


The Mystery [Girl] Of Life

by LetsGetNonCanon



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Apparently The Crewniverse Were Calling Her "Sheena" During Storyboarding, F/F, Family Bonding, Family Issues, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting to Know Each Other, Past Relationship(s), Rating May Change, Sexual Humor, Sexual Tension, Tags May Change, Things Are Gonna Get Messy And Complicated, so imma go with that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2018-09-27 16:05:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10030808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetsGetNonCanon/pseuds/LetsGetNonCanon
Summary: Whether you're human or alien, it can be tough to get back on the dating scene. Past loves can make it difficult to find comfort in another, no matter how many times you tell yourself that you're over it. It all started with one fateful phone call, and before anyone knew it, things began to spiral just a bit out of control. Sheena finds herself with a mighty big pair of shoes to fill once she gets involved with the Crystal Gems, bringing about feelings and events that even Garnet wouldn't predict.





	1. Reality Check

The warm summer sun shone over Beach City, blanketing the entire town in its humid embrace. All throughout town, people moved sluggishly, the summer heat making them tired and lethargic. To most, the sleepy atmosphere was a welcome respite. Between alien attacks, ‘natural’ disasters, and rebuilding crumbled buildings, the slow day proved to be incredibly relaxing.

That is, unless you were Pearl.

Whilst everyone else spent the day lounging or enjoying the fine weather, Pearl had spent the better part of the day gathering up every ounce of courage she could muster. Whether it was due to Steven’s pep talks, Amethyst’s teasing, or her own growing sense of yearning, Pearl found herself shakily holding her cell phone to her ear, her heart pounding as it continued to ring. Pearl sat herself down next to the kitchen counter as the other gems watched, her mind growing numb to the seemingly endless ringing.

“Hello?” a voice on the other end answered.

“Oh! H-hello!” Pearl jumped, “This is Pearl, from the concert. Is this…’S’?”

Pearl could hear the voice chuckle a bit before responding, “Yeah, but most people just call me Sheena.”

“Ah yes that uh...makes much more sense.” Pearl said, silently berating herself for honestly thinking this woman’s name was one letter long.

“So, tell me Pearl,” Sheena hummed, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“W-well…” Pearl stammered, “I was hope-er...wondering, if you’d like to..get together sometime?” Pearl could feel her face flush as the words left her mouth.

The other end was silent for a tense moment, “Yeah, sure.” Sheena responded, “Wanna meet up at The Big Donut? Say...in an hour?”

“That sounds perfect!” Pearl cheered immediately.

“Cool. I’ll see you then.”

Pearl hung up the phone, promptly breathing a heavy sigh of relief. Amethyst threw herself onto the counter, eyeing Pearl with a mischievous smile, “So, how’d it go?”

“I’m meeting her in town in an hour.” said Pearl.

“You did make sure to actually get her _name_ this time, right?”

“Yes I did, her name is Sheena.” Pearl said matter-of-factly.

Amethyst turned towards Garnet and Steven, “You hear that guys? Pearl’s got a date with Sheena!” she hooted.

“Oh...please Amethyst. We’re just meeting up. That doesn’t mean anything.” Pearl blushed.

“Pearl, you could have gotten us arrested on the way to that concert, just for a chance to talk to her. The least you could do is admit that you like her.” Amethyst groaned.

Pearl’s eyes drifted to the painting of Rose above the door. A sharp pain shot through her chest as the tried to organize her thoughts, “I don’t know what I’m feeling.” she whispered.

“Aw cheer up Pearl,” Steven chimed in, “she obviously likes you enough to wanna see you again. Just go have fun!”

“Oh...I suppose. Garnet? Does your future vision see anything worth telling me?”

Garnet adjusted her visor slightly, silently gazing into unseen possibilities. After a quiet minute or two, she shivered and shook her head, “Uh...no. Not really.”

“Well...I ought to get going.” Pearl said as she stood to leave.

Pearl took a final fleeting glance at Rose’s picture before heading out the door. Pearl left behind a tense air that hung on the other gems like a lead vest. They shifted silently where they stood, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with one another. They each had a similar thought or two rattling around in their heads, but refused to let them out in the open. Steven whimpered quietly as he watched Amethyst’s cheerful expression drop.

“Aw come on…,” he said, “it can’t go that badly.”

“I don’t know,” Amethyst sighed, “Pearl’s still...getting over Rose. I’m happy for her but…” her voice trailed off for a moment, “Garnet, what did you see?”

“We need to head into town.” Garnet said simply.

“Is Pearl’s date really gonna be that bad?” Amethyst asked.

“No. We need to _stop it_ from being that bad.”

*

Pearl moved at a brisk pace, the hot, muggy air making it somewhat of a chore. Her mind raced nearly as fast as her heart, her stomach tying itself in knots. Sheena’s voice still rang in the back of her mind, clear as a bell. The bemused laugh, the confidence flowing from her words, the relaxed way she seemed to say...well, _everything_. Pearl was almost envious, she could never seem to relax properly. Her growing anticipation mixing with sense of dread certainly wasn’t helping matters. Her legs felt like a rotting pair of stilts, barely supporting her as they struggled to move. She caught herself taking a few trembling, unnecessary breaths to try and calm herself down. 

“What would Rose think?” Pearl chuckled weakly, “Seeing me, trying to...court a human?”

Pearl tried with every ounce of her being to push the thought away, but it refused to dwindle, even for a moment. Would Rose be supportive? Jealous? Would she have even cared? Pearl pondered these thoughts for the remainder of her trek, before finally arriving at The Big Donut. Her eye caught a glimpse of Sheena’s motorbike sitting in the parking lot, a black helmet perched on her handlebars. With a deep breath, Pearl made her way inside. She immediately heard a familiar voice.

“Hey Pearl! Over here!” Sheena waved.

Sheena had sat herself down at a table by the window. She held a cup of coffee in one hand, another one placed on the table. Pearl sat opposite of her, “Hello Sheena...is..this for me?” she stammered.

“Yeah,” she laughed, “I didn’t know how you liked it, so I just left it black. I can grab you some sugar or whatever if you want.”

“Oh no no! This is...fine.” Pearl said as she awkwardly took a sip of the bitter beverage.

“If you say so.” Sheena smirked, “I gotta admit, I was afraid you weren’t gonna call me.”

“Well I was planning on calling sooner, but I ended up having to help Steven recover his father from outer space.” Pearl explained.

Sheena slapped the table a few times as a fit of laughter overtook her, “Oh right, of course. I hate when that happens.”

The sarcasm soared over Pearl’s head like an out of control airplane, “Oh yes it was quite the journey. But I’d do anything for my little Steven.” Pearl chirped happily.

“Steven is like...your little brother, right?”

“Oh heavens no! I’m one of his guardians.”

“Woah, hold on. You’re...a mom? How old are you?” Sheena asked in bewilderment.

“About eleven-thousand, give or take a few hundred years. It gets tough to keep track after a while.”

Sheena snicked again, nearly spitting out her coffee, “Heh, right. I should’ve guessed.”

A tingle of unease ran down Pearl’s spine. Sheena didn’t seem to be taking her very seriously. Pearl brushed the thought away, “So...tell me. What do you do with your time?”

Sheena leaned back in her chair, “Well, when I’m not bustin’ my ass working, I’m riding around on my motorcycle or chilling in my room. Tryin’ to enjoy life, ya know? What about you?”

“Well, mostly I help defend the city from monsters.” Pearl smiled.

Sheena buried her face in her hands, growing red with breathless laughter, “Oh my god! You are too much!” she howled.

Pearl raised a confused eyebrow, “What are you-”

A heavy bang against the window cut Pearl short, forcing her to whip around in surprise. Her eyes widened at the sight of a gem monster writhing in pain on the sidewalk, Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven in hot pursuit of it. The creature resembled a spider, standing at about the size of a large dog. It was a deep blue, with a large gem sitting in the center of its back. The creature jumped to its feet, spewing a silver webbing from its mouth towards the attacking gems. The sticky substance entwined itself around Garnet’s legs, forcing her to trip and fall, knocking Amethyst over in the process. Steven skidded to stop, turning to help his fallen allies when the spider leaped for him. It pinned him under its many legs, baring its bladelike mandibles at him. WIthout hesitation, Pearl barreled through the door, spear in hand. She thrust her weapon into the monster’s body with all her might, causing it to wail out in agony. With a flick of her wrist, Pearl smashed it against the side of the building, poofing its physical form into nothingness. Pearl bubbled the gem with a sigh of relief.

“Are you all alright?” Pearl asked as she sent the bubble away.

“Yeah...we’re fine,” Steven said, “but uh...she might not be.”

Pearl turned around to see Sheena standing behind her, her eyes open in shock. Pearl sheepishly sent her spear away as she began to explain herself, “Oh my...Sheena, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know-”

“You’re...actually an alien? All that stuff you said...about going to space...fighting monsters….being made of light? That’s...real?” she stammered.

“You...didn’t believe me?” Pearl questioned.

“That...that’s….awesome!” Sheena bellowed.

“It is?”

“Are you kidding me?! Of course it is! I..I didn’t know what you were talking about at first but...you’re actually like...a smokin’ alien babe!” Sheena said with childlike giddiness.

Pearl began to blush, feeling herself melt under the human’s enthusiastic green eyes, “Uh...babe?”

Sheena threw a hand to her mouth, her face growing a deep red once she realized what she had just said, “.....Uh..ahem. I uh...lost my cool for a second there...heh..”

“It’s too late dude!” Amethyst called from a few yards away, “You can’t save this!”

“Amethyst, hush!” Pearl shouted back before turning her attention back to Sheena, “So you’re...not intimidated by this? Most humans are either frightened or generally apathetic of us. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t heard of us.”

“I’ve only lived here a few weeks….I didn’t know all that stuff about “alien girls” living here was true! I thought it was like...a tourist trap thing!”

“Well I assure you, we’re very much real.” Pearl chuckled.

Sheena was still noticeably trembling, “This is….the coolest day of my life. H-hey, do you wanna...go out sometime? Like..on a real date? I’d love to get to know more about you….i-if you’re not too busy saving the world or something.” she said hopefully.

“O-oh!” Pearl flushed, “I...I would love to!”

Steven waddled over to Garnet and Amethyst, sitting on the ground next to them as Pearl and Sheena worked out the details of their date, “Looks like we stopped their date from being a disaster, right Garnet?”

Garnet looked down at him with a smile, “Mission accomplished.”


	2. Bruised Ego

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You know what they say, a first impression is everything!

Sheena’s bike engine roared through the quiet evening air, speeding down the lonely road. Her pastel pink hair flowed out from under her helmet, waving in the breeze. She could feel a reputable swarm of butterflies in her stomach, just as she had for the past hour or so. First dates weren’t usually a big deal, but then again Sheena wasn’t used to going on dates with an alien. She could feel the dweeby side of herself she desperately tried to keep hidden throwing itself forward, flooding her mind with memories of Pearl fighting off that creature. The way Pearl managed to carry herself with both elegance and ferocity was a sight to behold. It was breathtaking, yet intimidating all at once. Sheena took in a few steady breaths, desperate to calm her nerves. It wasn’t long before she found herself at the edge of the beach. Sheena parked her bike and stepped out onto the sand.

“Alright,” she said to herself, “she said she lives at the very end of the beach. She already thinks you’re cool so….don’t mess this up.”

Sheena walked quietly through the beach, the sound of her boots digging into the sand slowly driving her mad. She reached up to wipe some nervous sweat from her brow, in the process realizing that she had forgotten to remove her helmet. 

“Heh, whoops,” she sighed, “I’d better take this off.”

Before Sheena could move a single muscle, a deafening roar cut through the still air, startling her into a full sprint. She could see what looked like a statue in the distance, a woman with many arms holding a...house? She skidded to a stop as another roar thundered around her, her eyes finally catching what was causing the horrific racket. A beetle-like creature standing about the size of a horse with a dark purple shell tore apart the beach, locked in battle with the Crystal Gems. The insectoid monster stood on four powerful legs, swinging its two clawed arms towards its attackers. Its horn must’ve been over four feet long, curving and ending with a dull point. It appeared to have a small gemstone embedded in its chest.

Sheena’s soul shook as the creature let out another cry, a terrifying reminder that what Pearl had described before was real. Too real. And here Sheena was, a few meters from it at most. Her mouth went dry as her legs began to shake, unable to move her away from the frightening display before her. The Crystal Gems were attacking the creature head on, aiming for the gem in its core. Whenever one of them got close however, it would swat them back with a swing of its horn. Amethyst flung her whip towards it, wrapping it around the creature’s horn and attempting to pull it over. It responded in turn by hoisting Amethyst off the ground, using her as a makeshift flail to attack the rest of the team with. The gems went flying into the sand, scattering as they hit the ground. The monster bored down towards them, its assault stopped by a bright pink shield that’d formed around them. Sheena watched in awe as its attacks bounced harmlessly off the barrier, the monster growling in frustration. A small figure rolled out of the pile of half-conscious bodies, a short boy carrying a shield. The barrier dissipated as he circled the beast, drawing its attention from the others. 

“Dang, that kid is brave.” Sheena whispered to herself.

The behemoth bug didn’t let up, taking more than a few swings at the child, each one being met with a quick block. It wasn’t long before the shield shattered, sending its holder flying backwards into the sand. Sheena felt her heart stop as the insect began to charge. The only movement the little boy seemed to manage was a frightened tremble. Sheena felt her body move without input, her legs pounding into the sand as fast as they could carry her. Adrenaline consumed her as the distance between her, the boy, and the monster began to close. She could hear the wind break as the monster aimed its next attack, her entire body exploding forward in quick movement. The impact hit her immediately, sending her straight into the ground. She felt what she thought was a gentle just of wind as her vision began to darken. Sheena could feel blood pool in her mouth, as distant voices serenaded her into unconsciousness. “Steven! Are you okay?”

“Wait...who...who is that?”

“Oh my… _ **Sheena!**_ ”

*

The darkness faded, slowly melting away into a dull light. Sheena’s head throbbed, her back feeling stiff. Her eyes blinked open to four figures standing over her. They didn’t appear to have noticed she’d awoken, too busy talking amongst themselves. Her eyes surveyed the area around her slowly. She was laying on a couch in an unfamiliar house. She caught a glimpse of a painting above the door of a radiant looking woman with long pink curls. Through the window she could see the beach, with piles of sand and holes still kicked up from the battle she’d witnessed earlier. She shakily tried to sit up, catching the attention of the gems.

“She’s awake!” Steven exclaimed.

“Sheena oh my goodness! Are you alright?!” Pearl panicked.

Sheena lazily waved her hand, trying to ignore the dull pain in her back, “Who me? Yeah I’m fine.” she turned her attention to Steven, “But uh...Steven right? Are you okay? I thought that freaky bug was gonna eat you or something.”

“I’m fine,” he shrugged, “it happens. Thanks for saving me.”

“No problem,” Sheena laughed, still barely able to believe what was going on, “so...how long was I out?”

Pearl took a look at her phone, “About...seven or so hours. It’s a good thing you were wearing that helmet.” Pearl said with a gesture towards the coffee table.

Sheena’s eyes widened as she took in the sight of her helmet, shattered to pieces. Sitting next to the pile was a familiar looking silver ring, “Is...that my lip ring?”

“Oh...yes, it fell out when that monster hit you. I’m surprised it didn’t damage you more.” Pearl said.

Sheena could feel her face go red, “Heh...yeah that one’s fake…wait. Did you say seven hours? So it’s like...two in the morning?”

“That’s right. Why?”

“Well...I was gonna ask where you wanted to go tonight but...I have a weird feeling everything’s closed by now.” Sheena laughed awkwardly.

A blue flush found its way onto Pearl’s face, “Yes well...we really should be getting you home. It’s late and you need to rest, we’ll simply have to reschedule.”

Sheena immediately shot up, ignoring her muscles pained screams, “Wait! We can still...just hang out. If you want.”

“Sheena, you’re lucky you don’t have a concussion.” Pearl said in a stern, mom-like manner, “I checked you over, and aside from some nasty bruising you’re going to be fine. Regardless, you need to get some rest or you could get worse.”

Sheena’s smile slumped, unable to argue, “Aw..alright. I’ll see you around I guess.” she said as she made for the door. “Hold it.” Pearl said, “How are you planning on getting home?”

“With my bike?”

Pearl pointed to the remains for Sheena’s helmet, “Without a helmet? That’s horribly dangerous.”

“I don’t really have much of a choice, do I?” Sheena said nonchalantly as she pocketed her ring.

“Pearl’s got a real hard-on for safety,” Amethyst teased, “no way she’s letting you get on that thing without a helmet.”

“I don’t really have anyone to give me a ride so...what exactly am I supposed to do?”

“It’s fine, I’ll take you home. Garnet, make sure Steven gets to bed, it is way past his bedtime.”

Garnet gave a silent thumbs up as Pearl led Sheena outside. Steven gave them a happy wave goodbye, prompting Sheena to halfheartedly wave back. The two of them stepped out into the cool night air, thousands of stars illuminating the inky black sky. 

Pearl held a hand out to Sheena, “Hand me your keys, I’ll bring you your bike in the morning.”

Sheena handed her the keys without thinking before saying, “So...where’s your car?”

“Oh I’m afraid that car is...less than usable after getting to that concert. But no worries! I have another way of getting there. Just stand back.”

Sheena took a few steps back as Pearl’s body began to glow. Her physical form melted and changed, growing and shrinking before finally settling on a shape. Pearl transformed herself into a large bird, big enough to carry at least two or three people at once. Sheena’s mouth gaped slightly as she tried to take it all it. It still looked like Pearl, the feathers matched her outfit and skin tone perfectly, but now she was...a bird?

“You...you can do that?”

“I promise I’ll give you a detailed rundown of my powers later,” Pearl said half sarcastically, “now hop on and tell me where you live.”

Sheena apprehensively climbed onto Pearl’s back, wrapping her arms around her neck, “I live in an apartment at the very edge of town, you probably passed it on your way to the concert.”

“Alright, I’m going to fly slow but you should still hang on tight.” Pearl warned.

Pearl took off into the sky, gently gliding over Beach City. Sheena watched in stunned silence, gripping to Pearl out of fear, “How the hell is this less dangerous?!” she cried.

A few of Pearl’s feathers shined a brilliant white, wrapping themselves around Sheena’s body as they formed a harness around her, “Don’t worry, I come with seatbelts.”

The pair flew over the sleeping down at a steady pace, soaring high above the road. Sheena couldn’t form a proper sentence, any and all attempts eventually breaking down into excited laughter or nervous ums and uhs. The road below them began to rise, forming a tall hill with an apartment building nestled on top. The cliff overlooked the ocean, the sound of its waves lazily rolling on the shore just short of audible from their height. Pearl landed near a bench just outside the building, transforming into her usual state once Shenna climbed off.

“Thanks for the ride.” Sheena chuckled nervously.

“It was no problem. Sheena...could I talk to you for a moment?”

The pair sat on the nearby bench, staring off into the vast sea, “Sheena,” Pearl began, “what you did today was reckless. You could have gotten yourself killed. Why would you throw yourself in front of a creature that size?”

Sheena’s stomach did a flip as she attempted to fish out an answer, “Well...I-I thought Steven was gonna get hurt. I just sorta...went for it ya know?”

“You risked your life...for a child you didn’t even know? That’s...so sweet.” Pearl said, her voice catching just a bit in her throat.

“Alright,” Sheena said, “now I get to ask you something.” Sheena’s mind had been overcrowded with questions previously, about who or what exactly Pearl and the others were. Now however, whether it was due to the headache or her nerves, Sheena could only seem to scrape a few together, “That gem on your forehead...what exactly is it? That monster had one too.”

Pearl put a hand to her gem, “Well...the simplest way of putting it is..it’s me. My body is just a manifestation of light and energy. That energy comes from my gem, just like every other member of my species.”

“Woah, that’s...cool. Is that why you could turn into a bird just then? You’re just...reshaping the energy?”

“Exactly!” Pearl said, obviously impressed, “Although shapeshifting does a require a lot of energy. Amethyst is much better at it, mostly because the amount of time she dedicated to sleeping and eating gives her much bigger reservoirs of energy to use.”

“Amethyst….that’s the sassy little purple one, right?”

“That would be her.” Pearl laughed.

“Is she like...a kid? She’s only about Steven’s height. You and the one with the afro are taller than most adult humans.”

“Firstly, the ‘one with the afro,’ is Garnet. And second...no. We don’t age, that’s simply...how Amethyst chooses to present herself.” Pearl said, her voice giving away that she was keeping quiet about something.

Sheena raised an eyebrow, “Oh...alright. I’m sorry, you’re probably getting sick of the questions. You’re just...really interesting.”

Pearl couldn’t help but laugh, “After what you did for Steven, I’d be willing to answer any questions you have. But...if I may, could I ask you another one?”

“Go for it.”

“Are your earrings fake as well?”

Sheena’s entire body began to run hot, “Oh...no. Just the lip piercing. I kinda...chickened out of getting the real one. I heard it hurts way too much.”

“And yet you nearly broke a bone fighting a gem monster without a second thought.” Pearl grinned as she rose to her feet, “Well, I should head home. I’ll drop off your motorcycle some time tomorrow when I come to check on you.”

“Alright. Just, please be careful. That thing is my life.” Sheena said as she struggled to stand.

“I promise I will treat it kindly. I’m sorry our plans didn’t work out.”

“Eh, I’ve had worse dates.” Sheena shrugged.

The two stood there silently, the air feeling heavy around them. Pearl fidgeted a bit where she stood, prompting Sheena to speak up, “Is something wrong?”

“I..I just feel terrible about what happened. If I had just done a better job protecting Steven, then you wouldn’t have gotten hurt…” Pearl explained with a noticeable amount of pain in her voice.

“Hey come on, you had to protect yourself. I told you, I’m fine, really! Sheena insisted.

Pearl simply put her head down as tears rolled down her face. Sheena’s breath began to grow short, her head pounding just a bit harder than before. She threw her arms around Pearl, pulling her into a tight hug. Sheena couldn’t believe how delicate Pearl felt in her arms, her slender form nearly sinking into her. Pearl seemed to responded out of habit or instinct, wrapping her arms around Sheema and crying softly into her shoulder. Sheena gently rubbed her back, unsure of what else to even say or do.

“I’m...I’m just so sorry.” Pearl wept, “You and Steven could’ve gotten injured or worse, and it would’ve been all my fault.”

“Hey, quit talkin’ like that! You guys still took care of that monster no problem! And besides, Steven’s fine and I’m tough, I can take it.” Sheena said with a forcibly cheery smile.

Pearl stared into Sheena’s eyes, wiping away tears, “You’re not...upset? You’re not concerned for your health and wellbeing?”

“Nah, I know how important that little guy is to you.” Sheena reassured her, “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

Pearl pulled away, chuckling in disbelief, “We hardly even know each other…” she said under her breath, “You’re...not like other humans, are you?”

Sheena cracked a lopsided smile, “I’m gonna take that as a compliment.”


	3. Steamy Situations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to check with your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for lesbian space rock therapy.

Pearl hurriedly pushed herself out the door, clutching a small paper bag to her chest. With a snap of her fingers, a sky blue helmet found itself on her head, courtesy of her gem. The heavy summer heat blanketed her as she made her way across the sand. Pearl refused to be deterred, a song of obligation and determination playing on loop in her head. Sheena’s motorbike was parked just a few yards away, just outside of the beach. Pearl squinted a bit as it came into view, difficult to see against the blazing sun. Someone was leaning up against the bike, the top of the short silhouette barely reaching the handlebars. Pearl gripped the bag tighter as she approached, afraid she’d have to fight off some hoodlum. Pearl stood her ground, doing her best to look intimidating without drawing her weapon. The shadowy figure let out a familiar snicker in response. Her stomach did a flip when she realized she wasn’t staring down a goon...at least, not a complete goon.

“Amethyst,” Pearl breathed, “what are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you. What’s in the bag?” Amethyst smiled suspiciously.

“Oh this? Just some medicine. Nothing too strong, just enough to help with whatever pain Sheena’s probably in.”

“Oh, so you’re doing a sexy nurse thing for her, nice.” Amethyst said with a taunting grin.

“Did you come all the way out here just to mock me?” Pearl growled, trying to ignore the heat in her face.

“Mostly.” Amethyst admitted, “That, and I wanted to check out Sheena’s ride.”

Pearl climbed into the seat of the motorcycle, apprehensively sticking the key into the ignition, “These things are so dangerous...why do so many humans drive them?”

“The same reason they jump in front of giant monsters, so they can look cool.” Amethyst chuckled.

“Amethyst please. Sheena did a very brave thing yesterday. It wasn’t her fault that we….that I….” Pearl’s voice trailed off into a quiet squeak.

Amethyst’s sneer quickly melted into a lopsided frown, “Aw...come on P, you can’t beat yourself up over this.”

A painful sounding hitch caught in Pearl’s throat as she tried to respond, “Rose told me to help protect humanity, and here I am getting them hurt.”

“We break stuff all the time,” Amethyst reassured her, “the humans know what’s up.”

“She doesn’t!” Pearl squawked, “She didn’t even know we existed until I dragged her out here and got her injured! Ugh...I’m such an idiot!” Pearl shouted as she gripped at her hair.

Amethyst lightly patted Pearl’s back, “Hey...it’s alright. You didn’t tell her to do it. You didn’t even know that monster was gonna show up!”

Pearl took a few steadying breaths, wiping a tear or two from her eyes. “I-I know. I just feel so...guilty. But it’s more than that I...I’m not sure what it is I’m feeling anymore.”

“You uh...wanna talk about it?” Amethyst offered awkwardly.

“Not really.” Pearl muttered.

“Well...I bet she’d be really happy to see you right about now.” Amethyst said with a small smile, “I’d be pretty happy if the girl I was into came over to take care of me.”

Pearl couldn’t help but smile back, storing the paper bag in her gem. Pearl started the engine, the sound of its mechanical roar carrying over the entire beach, “Amethyst...thank you.” Pearl said quietly as pulled away, driving towards Sheena’s house at a brisk ten or so miles per hour.

“Figures. Only Pearl would hop on a motorcycle and drive _below_ the speed limit.” Amethyst groaned.

*

Sheena’s eyes slowly blinked open, her head feeling as if it were filled with stones. A dull pain gripped her body, every muscle feeling tight and useless. She attempted to sit up, the aching soreness forcing her back down onto her futon. Sheena looked down at herself, clad in only a loose fitting white t-shirt and a pair of dark blue boxers. She couldn’t spot any blood stains, and none of her bones felt broken, which she took as a fairly good sign. She struggled to move, uselessly fighting against herself for what seemed like days. The best her suffering body could do was shuffle around ever so slightly before the pain forced her to stop. She managed to prop herself up on her pillow, allowing to sit up ever so slightly. Her eyes scanned the apartment she called home. It was decently sized, but fairly empty. From her spot in the corner she could see her fridge, stove and sink in the opposite corner, a couple of wooden cabinets bolted to the wall above them. The bathroom door was directly in front of her, with the front door more or less behind her. Besides that however, the room was sparely decorated. The hardwood floors had not a single carpet or piece of furniture upon it, aside from the futon Sheena currently found herself stuck on or the nightstand at the foot of it. A few sci-fi posters adorned the wall, a large curtain covering the singular, gigantic window.

A brisk knock at the door caught her attention. Of course, with the current state she was in and the door being behind her head, Sheena couldn’t even see the door let alone answer it. “Uh...who’s there?” Sheena croaked.

“It’s Pearl.” a voice on the other side answered, “May I come in?”

“....Sure.” Sheena said against her better judgement.

Sheena heard the door creak open slowly, clicking shut another second later. She tried to turn her head to face her, only to be met with a stiff resistance. Pearl finally came into view, a concerned look on her face.

“I parked your vehicle outside,” Pearl said, placing the keys on the end table as her helmet faded away, “how are you feeling?”

“Peachy,” Sheena huffed sarcastically, “I can’t even get up.”

“Oh dear,” Pearl said, moving a few pink locks out of Sheena’s eyes, “where does it hurt?”

“My back, my neck, my head,” Sheena snickered a bit before adding, “my life.”

Sheena could see a pained light flicker in Pearl’s eyes, a crestfallen air hanging off of her, “Is there anything I can do to help? It is my fault you’re so hurt.”

“Pearl, you don’t have to-”

“But I want to!” Pearl cut in, “If there’s something I can do, anything, just tell me!”

Sheena’s eyes widened a bit, “Uh..I guess I wouldn’t mind some help up.”

Pearl slipped a hand behind Sheena’s shoulders, her other arm going under her legs. She gently pulled Sheena from the bed, enticing a quiet whimper from the injured woman. Pearl managed to get Sheena’s feet to the floor, steadying her as best as she could. Sheena stood deathly still, her arms sticking out slightly. Her limbs shook weakly, every ounce of her power dedicated to keeping herself standing. She took a tiny step forward, only managing to get an inch or so forward before dropping. Pearl caught her before she hit the ground, hoisting her back up with an arm around Sheena’s waist.

“Sorry, sorry.” Sheena fussed.

“Don’t apologize. Is there anything I can do to help ease your pain?”

Sheena mulled it over for a silent minute, “Well, I pulled a muscle at the gym a few months back, soaking in the water kinda helped but-”

“Well then, show me the way to the bathtub.” Pearl said simply.

“Pearl, I really don’t want to just...take a bath while you’re here.” Sheena blushed.

Pearl locked eyes with her, “Sheena, I am not leaving until we do something about this.” she said, a cold sternness backing up her words.

Finding herself stuck between a rock and a hard place, she pointed towards the door in front of them, “The bathroom’s that way.”

“Thank you. Now, let’s take this slowly.”

The pair quickly found slowly to be somewhat of an understatement. They shambled towards the bathroom, stopping every few paces to reorient themselves. Through will and perseverance, they managed to make it to the bathroom. Pearl turned the water on, a light layer of steam staining the air as hot water filled the tub. Pearl motioned towards it as she turned back around, “I’ll be just outside the door if you need me.”

Sheena looked towards the ground bashfully, still as a statue, “Uh...I don’t think I can get in.”

“Why not?”

Sheena’s arms gripped at the sides of her shirt, dropping pitifully when she tried to move them, “I can’t get my arms over my head.”

Pearl’s face flushed a dark blue, “So..you need help...undressing?”

“I...uh, look, forget I said anything.” Sheena stammered, “Just help me get back to-”

“No, no! I told you, I’ll do whatever it takes to assist you. Just...give me a moment.”

Pearl stepped behind Sheena, stiffly fumbling with the bottom of her shirt. Her hands rested on Sheena’s sides for a second or two, rising up to her underarms, “This is going to hurt a little.” Pearl warned.

She forced Sheena’s arms straight up in one swift movement, “Mother fu-...gah!” Sheena heaved under her breath.

Pearl pulled the shirt up and over Sheena’s head, dropping it to the floor. She couldn’t help but wince a bit at the sight of Sheena’s back, plastered with purple and black bruises from her neck all the way down to her rear. That was when Pearl realized she wasn’t exactly finished. The boxers came off much more easily, sliding down Sheena’s legs without any trouble. Sheena stepped out of them as Pearl took her hand. Pearl refused to look anywhere but the bathtub, keeping laser-sharp focus on it until the instant Sheena touched the water. It was a bit of a challenge to help Sheena into the tub without taking a less-than-appropriate glance at her, but somehow she pulled it off. Pearl threw the shower curtain closed as fast as she could, her entire being burning with embarrassment. 

“There you are,” she said finally, “I’ll be right back.”

Before Sheena could respond, Pearl threw herself out the door and slammed it behind her. Her heart pounded out of her chest as she tried to gather a cohesive thought. The image of Sheena’s body refused to be anywhere except the forefront of her mind, despite not even seeing most of it. Her soft curves, her warm skin, the way she could look so strong yet still so vulnerable, it all brought about feelings Pearl hadn’t felt for over a decade. She rubbed her temples, her eyes squeezed shut as another wave of shameful, uncomfortable warmth washed over her.

“For the love of...you’re supposed to be _helping_ her!” Pearl whispered to herself. Pearl forced herself back into the room, thankful that Sheena couldn’t see her blushing, “Is it working?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Sheena replied, the hot water loosening her muscles ever so slightly, “I think I can move a little bit.”

“Good to hear.” Pearl sighed as she slumped onto the floor, her back to the tub, “I’m sorry if that was...awkward.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. But like I said, you really didn’t have to do that.” Sheena chuckled.

“Yes I did. I want to help you. I _need_ to help you.” Pearl insisted forlornly.

Pearl could hear Sheena struggle to sit up, “I’m a big girl, I can handle myself. But...thanks. I appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem. I take it you’d like some privacy now?”

Sheena twisted her back as she talked, a satisfying crack causing her to go momentarily limp, “Actually, if you don’t mind, I’d prefer it if you stayed.”

“R-really?” Pearl stuttered, “Why? Is something else wrong?”

“Well no, but we never really got the chance to talk last night. I wanted to get to know you a little more. If you feel like sharing, of course.”

Pearl leaned against the tub, unable to keep herself from giggling. Despite the monster attacks, unexpected nudity, or general awkwardness of the situation, things still felt comfortable between them. Pearl couldn’t place it, but it almost felt...familiar. Like something she once had but lost all too long ago. The smallest spark of guilt burned her as a grin appeared on her face.

“What do you want to know?”


	4. Past Injuries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl makes bath time both fun and angst-filled.

Sheena stared up at the bathroom ceiling, the steamy air obstructing the view ever so slightly. Her fingers drummed on her stomach nervously, the hot water soaking pleasantly into her skin. Despite the warm bath, a persistent chill ran up and down her spine. She was anxious, not that her companion could see that from the other side of the shower curtain. She had no idea what would qualify as a normal question for an alien. After everything Pearl had done to help her, Sheena couldn’t help but dread the idea of offending her. She decided to play it safe, at least for now.

“So, besides all the monster slaying, what do you do in your free time?” Sheena asked a bit apprehensively.

“Protecting Beach City is a full-time job I’m afraid,” Pearl responded, “but, the little time I do have to myself I enjoy spending either with Steven or training with my pupil.”

“I take it you and Steven don’t get to spend a lot of time together?” 

“Unfortunately not,” Pearl sighed, “my missions can sometimes take weeks. I’m thankful that Steven grew up to be so independent, but I still feel bad.”

“Doesn’t that kid have a dad to watch him?” Sheena grummbled.

“Oh no, he doesn’t live with Greg. He lives with me and the other gems.”

“What, is his dad some kind of deadbeat?” Sheena spat, her voice suddenly sounding very hate filled.

“Oh goodness no!” Pearl backpedaled, “Greg loves Steven more than anything! Once his powers started to develop, the gems and I took him into our care to train him properly. They probably spend more time together that we do with him to be frank.”

“Oh, okay.” Sheena said, “So who’s that pupil you were talking about? Another gem?”

“No, she’s a human. Steven’s little friend Connie has become quite proficient with a sword. She’s even joined us on a mission not too long ago.”

Sheena’s eyes widened, partily in shock and partially in excitement, “You’re a swordsman?...Swordswoman? That’s so cool!”

“Oh it’s nothing really. When you’ve been alive as long as I have, you pick up a skill or two.” Pearl said, her voice noticeably wilting.

“Is something wrong?” 

“No...no it’s nothing.” Pearl lied.

Sheena could feel the light touch of anxious tendrils on her back, crawling all over her in a matter of seconds. Was it something she said? “So uh...did you like, learn on Earth or on your home planet?” Sheena blurted, desperate to keep the conversation afloat.

“I learned on Earth. A woman named...Rose taught me. She taught me a lot of things.” Pearl sighed.

“ _Okay, cool. She has a friend, that’s a good sign._ ” Sheena thought, “What else did she teach you?”

She could see Pearl’s silhouette move, momentarily facing the tub before looking off into nothingness, “In a way, she taught me everything. How to fight, how to find myself...how to love.” A small whimper slipped from Pearl’s lips, “Not a day goes by without me missing her.”

_“That doesn’t sound good.”_ Sheena shifted awkwardly for a moment “Where did she go?” she asked, only realizing what Pearl meant the second before she answered.

“She passed away some time ago, after giving birth to Steven.” Pearl said slowly, each word separated by tears.

_“Shit.”_

Sheena felt a pit form in her stomach. She almost felt seasick, her mind muddled by a cocktail of remorse, anxiety, and nervousness. Why did she have to open her big, stupid mouth? She slipped a hand out of the tub, blindly feeling around on the floor. She managed to locate Pearl’s hand and, not knowing what else to do, slipped her fingers between hers, holding onto her tight. She could feel Pearl flinch, but she didn’t pull away.

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” Sheena said quietly, “I didn’t know. I swear I wouldn’t have brought it up if I did.”

Pearl wiped a few stray tears from her eyes as she attempted to pull herself together, “It’s alright, I’d rather cry about her than forget her. If it wasn’t for her, I might not even be alive today.” Pearl remarked, her voice forlorn with an odd streak of sentimentality.

“For real? She saved your life?”

“She saved much more than just my life. She saved the entire planet from Homeworld. Of course, she didn’t do it alone, but without her we never would have stood a chance.”

_“Homeworld? Real creative name._ ” Sheena forced out a cough, debating with herself whether or not to keep the conversation going, “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly happened?”

Pearl went quiet for a moment, “It’s a bit complicated. The simplest way to put it is, Rose wanted all of us gems to have a chance to be who we _wanted_ to be, rather than who we were _supposed_ to be. She defended Earth with everything she had to make sure we had that chance. Well, that and to protect the humans she loved so much.”

“The chance to be who you wanted to be huh?” Sheena echoed, “Heh, wish I had someone like that when I was growing up.”

Pearl pulled the curtain back ever so slightly, looking up at Sheena with an uneasy look in her eyes, “Whatever do you mean?”

Sheena made a face as if she had just been injured, “It’s nothing really. Especially compared to what you’ve been through.”

Pearl squeezed Sheena’s hand, “My experiences don’t invalidate yours. Besides, you wanted to talk. Let’s talk.”

“It’s no big deal, really.” Sheena said, her words absolutely drenched in bitterness, “I ran away from home when I was fifteen, haven’t seen my mom ever since.”

“You ran away? Why?” Pearl asked.

Sheena clutched Pearl’s hand, her eyes suddenly glowing with anger, “According to her, being gay meant I was ‘possessed by the devil’ or something. So one night I hightailed it out of there. I even left her a note telling her how it was her fault her only kid was going to probably die in the woods.” Sheena chuckled, seemingly proud of herself.

Pearl looked justifiably horrified, “Oh my, that’s terrible!”

“Eh, she deserved it.” Sheena shrugged.

“That’s not...um..anyway.” Pearl quietly tried to think of a direction to pull the conversation, although Sheena wasn’t done with her rants.

“Anyone who says something like that to their own kid deserves a lot worse than that.” Sheena waved her free hand around as she spoke, splashing water to and fro, “Like, how could someone be that heartless?! Good riddance to that miserable bitch!”

Pearl’s heart thumped against her chest painfully, “Sheena it-it’s alright. Please try to calm down.” she squeaked. 

Sheena could feel herself shaking, hot, angry tears stinging her eyes. She drew in a heavy breath, trying her best to put on a calm expression, “I’m fine, I’m fine. Heh...sorry. I must look like some sort of nutcase.”

Pearl shook her head, “You have every right to be upset. I’m sorry you had to go through that. Is your back feeling any better?”

Sheena hadn’t realized how loose her muscles felt. There was still a distant, dull stinging, but aside from that that pain had subsided. “It still hurts a little, but I’ll live. You might wanna turn around or something. I kinda wanna get out and you don’t wanna see anymore of this mess.” Sheena said with a crooked smile.

Pearl’s face immediately began burning, “That isn’t true! N-not that I’d...I mean-”

Sheena stifled a laugh, unable to keep herself from grinning, “Alright, if you insist.” she said tauntingly, picking herself up slightly out of the water.

Pearl threw her hands over her eyes, “No no! I’m leaving!”

Sheena broke down into a fit of laughter as Pearl practically sprinted out of the room. She briskly dried herself off, wrapping a towel around her hair before slipping her sleepwear back on. She stretched and twisted herself around, her joints popping and cracking in a most satisfying way. She found Pearl standing just outside of the bathroom, half-flinching when Sheena pulled the door open.

“Calm down, I’m dressed.” she chuckled.

Pearl thrust a brown paper bag towards her, “Here, these should help keep the pain from coming back.”

Sheena pulled the small pill bottle from the bag with a confused look, “Where exactly were you keeping these?”

Pearl brought a finger to the gem on her forehead, “I can store small objects in my gem.”

“Oh...neat. Ya know, you never did tell me what else you can do.”

The pair lead themselves back to the futon as Pearl talked, “Well, I can shapeshift, summon my weapon, regenerate from physical damage, although all gems can do that. Certain gems have powers of their own, I have my holograms, Steven has his healing powers-”

“Wait.” Sheena cut her off, “Healing powers? Do you think he could fix me up?”

Pearl’s eyes fell to the floor, “I had considered that. But Steven’s powers have a habit of not working one hundred percent of the time. I wanted to be completely sure you’d be okay.”

Sheena took another glance at the medicine bottle before turning to Pearl again, “That’s really sweet. Like I said, you really don’t have to do all this for me.”

“It’s no trouble at all, really.” Pearl insisted. “Do you need anything else?”

Sheena brought a hand to her chin in contemplation, “Actually, there is one thing I definitely need.”

“Anything, you name it.”

Sheena shot Pearl a sly smile, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer, “I need you to promise me that when I’m better we’re gonna go on another date.”

Pearl made a quiet noise in confusion, “You’d really be willing to do that, given what happened last time?”

“Well, I’d prefer it if there weren’t any giant monsters this time, but I’m willing to take that risk.”

Pearl found it hard to look Sheena in the eye, “I would love to, if I may be honest. But not until you are completely recovered, do you understand?”

Sheena couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice, “I have a feeling that I’ll make a speedy recovery.”


	5. Extended Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven Q Universe is not a licensed chiropractor.

Sheena’s eyes slowly blinked open, the morning sun filling the small apartment. Her body shook feebly as she rose to a stretch, her muscles having a difficult time supporting themselves. Her spine cracked as she forced herself out of bed, the painful sound hanging in the air for a few seconds. Sheena trudged, hunched over, to her nightstand to grab the pill bottle sitting on it. In the two weeks since Pearl had given them to her, Sheena had already downed almost half the bottle. Even with them however, the pain refused to fully subside. A persistent, dull throb ebbed throughout her entire body, robbing her of her ability to stand up completely straight. Her arms and legs were also decorated with a few small bruises of their own, and although they didn’t hurt nearly as much, they still served as an annoying reminder of her own reckless behavior.  
  
Sheena’s groggy mind took an extra moment to register the bottle of pills in her hand, “Right, I can’t take these without eating something first.” she whispered to herself.  
  
Sheena hoisted herself to the fridge, swiping her phone from the counter as she did so. The light from the fridge illuminated her tired face almost painfully as she took in the sight of its meager contents. An unopened six pack of beer and a few questionably old bags of takeout were all that even seemed close to edible. She eyed the alcohol longingly, the ice cold cans silently taunting her.  
  
“Stupid pain meds.” Sheena swore as she slammed the fridge shut.  
  
Shenna unlocked her phone, half ashamed of herself when she saw it was 1:30 in the afternoon. Her attention was immediately grabbed by a series of missed calls from Pearl.  
  
_Hello, Sheena? It’s Pearl._ the recording said, _Just checking in to see if you needed anything. Call me back when you get this. Goodbye._  
  
The rest of the messages were more or less the same, most of the variance coming from voices in the background or Pearl attempting to crack a joke. Sheena tried to call, but got no answer.  
  
“Crap, I must’ve missed her.” Sheena said to herself, turning her attention to the window. A tiny feeling fluttered in her stomach, half worry and half impatience. She quickly threw on some clothes as she futilely tried to text Pearl. When s received no answer, she grabbed her keys and shoved herself through the door, trying to ignore the stiff feeling in her back.  
  
*  
  
Steven rubbed his eyes as he tumbled out of bed, the clock striking 1:30 as his feet reached the floor. A lazy yawn crawled out of his mouth as he made his way into the bathroom, change of clothes in hand. His memory was fuzzy, distant memories of Pearl and Garnet glimmering in the back of his mind.  
  
_“Steven, Garnet needs help on her mission.”_ Pearl had said when she woke him up around ten in the morning, _“We should be back in a few hours.”_  
  
After dressing himself and brushing his teeth, Steven left the bathroom and flopped over on the couch. The sight of the television made him feel sick, hours of programming burned into the back of his skull. He ran a hand over his face slowly, letting out a quiet whine as he began to zone out. A brisk knock at the door snapped him back to real world.  
  
“Come in.” he called.  
  
The door creaked open as a tall figure stepped inside, “Uh, hey Steven. Is Pearl here?”  
  
Steven pulled himself up, “Oh, hi Sheena. She’s on a mission, but she should be back soon. You can hang out and wait for her if you want.”  
  
“You don’t mind?” she asked, sitting down next to him, “Jeez, what happened to you? You look exhausted.”  
  
“I stayed up most of the night watching a Camp Pining Hearts marathon with a couple of friends,” he explained, “I think I overdid it a bit.”  
  
“That weird soap opera about the summer camp? I didn’t think they still made new episodes of that.”  
  
“It was on hiatus for a few months, but they finally brought it back a week or two ago.”  
  
“Ugh, that’s the worst.” Sheena chuckled, “Man, I miss having a tv.”  
  
Steven couldn’t hide his look of unbridled terror, “You don’t have a tv?!”  
  
“The stupid cable company is taking forever to hook it up. Trust me, if I could spend all day watching cartoons, I would.”  
  
“I knew there was something I liked about you.” Steven giggled.  
  
The pair made a few more minutes of small talk, the conversation becoming surprisingly fluid. Despite the age gap, common ground was found incredibly quickly. It was going well until Steven’s phone started going off. He quickly checked his texts, sighing when he saw who they were from.  
  
“You alright kiddo?” Sheena asked.  
  
“Yeah I’m fine, Peridot just wants talk about the new episodes is all. I’m burned out.” he laughed weakly.  
  
“Can’t you like, heal it off?”  
  
“I’m not hurt, I’m just tired.” Steven shrugged, “That reminds me, how’s your back?”  
  
“It still kinda hurts.” she grimaced, “You don’t think you could do anything to make it go away do you?”  
  
“Sure I can! Just show me where it hurts...and try not to flinch.”  
  
Sheena turned away from him, hiking her shirt up to reveal the bruising on her back. After giving his hand a hearty lick, Steven brought it to Sheena’s back, silently praying that his powers would come through. She shivered, half in pain and half in shock as the magic coursed through her body. The pain melted away almost instantly, her bruises and scratches fading into nothing. Her shirt dropped back into place as she forced herself to stand, half expecting the pain to come shooting back.  
  
“How do you feel?” Steven asked hopefully.  
  
“It-its all better.” she said in quiet awe, “That’s amazing! I really owe you one kid.”  
  
“Don’t mention it.” Steven said as his phone began to vibrate again, “Why can’t you be patient?!” he shouted at it. Suddenly his face lit up, grinning at Sheena with a star-like gleam in his eyes, “Hey, do you wanna meet Lapis and Peridot? I bet they’d like you!”  
  
“Uh...sure. Where do they live?”  
  
“At the barn, we can the the warp pad! Just let me leave a note for Pearl in case she comes back.”  
  
“I’m sorry, did you say ‘warp pad’?” Sheena gawked.  
  
Steven scribbled a quick note and brought Sheena to the warp pad. A burning beam of light dragged them away from the house, touching down in front of the barn. Sheena surveyed the suddenly new surroundings feverishly, her heart jumping in surprise. She took in the sight of the barn, the various bits and bobs making it unique to say the least. What caught her attention the most was the truck bed embedded in the front. She could see someone sitting in it, staring down at her and Steven almost violently. She was almost afraid to approach it, only moving towards it when Steven did. Peridot came barreling out of the barn, nearly tackling Steven in the process.  
  
“You’re finally awake! Oh my stars, can you believe the-” Sheena finally caught her attention, cutting her short, “Who is this?”  
  
“This is Pearl’s girlfriend Sheena.” Steven said happily.  
  
“Hey hey, woah little buddy,” Sheena blushed, “Pearl and I have gone on like, a date in half. I don’t think she’d want any labels put on yet.”  
  
Peridot eyed Sheena up and down, “So Pearl’s courting a human? Color me surprised. My name is Peridot, nice to make your acquaintance. The gem you see up there is my roommate Lapis Lazuli. She doesn’t talk much.”  
  
“Nice to you meet you.” Sheena said, “I take it your the one who kept Steven up all night watching tv?”  
  
“Hey! It was extremely important!” Peridot retorted, looking almost offended. “And I wasn’t entirely alone in that, Lazuli wanted to watch it too.”  
  
Sheena’s eyes drifted back up to Lapis’ perch, finding it empty. The blue gem flew overhead, circling around a few times before dropping right in front of Sheena. Her cold stare shifting between Sheena and Steven every few moments.  
  
“Lapis, are you alright?” Steven squeaked.  
  
“I’m fine. Why don’t you and Peridot head inside? I want to talk to your new friend for a minute.” she replied dispassionately.  
  
Peridot and Steven shuffled their way inside, Lapis refusing to break her focus on Sheena. The small pool next to her began to ripple, the water quaking as if a dinosaur were stomping next to it. Lapis waited until the door behind her closed before speaking.  
  
“So, what’s your plan? Get all buddy-buddy with Steven to get close to Pearl? Lapis spat, crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
Sheena recoiled back as if she had just been slapped, “What? No of course not! I like Steven, he’s a good kid.”  
  
“You _just_ met him, how would you know anything about him?”  
  
“Well...I..”  
  
The pool of water rose from the ground, dancing around in mid air like a hostile bird. Lapis dropped her tone, her words quiet and heavy. “Listen to me. I don’t really care what happens between you and Pearl, but if you hurt or use Steven, **I will make you suffer."**  
  
“That’s enough Lapis,” Sheena whipped around to see Pearl marching towards them, “Sheena would never do such a thing. She’s already saved Steven’s life once already.”  
  
Lapis stared at the pair incredulously, dropping the water into the pool without a word. She drifted back into the barn silently, slamming the door behind her. Sheena’s heart nearly burst from her chest as adrenaline shot through her bloodstream.  
  
“Nice meeting you too.” she said under her breath, “You know I wouldn’t ever _use_ Steven, right?  
  
“Oh, don’t worry about Lapis, she’s just as protective as Steven as the rest of us.” Pearl sighed, “How are you feeling?”  
  
“Steven fixed me up! Which means that I’m taking you out again.” Sheena smirked, “So, when are you free?”  
  
Pearl scratched her head in thought, “Well, Garnet, Amethyst and I just came back from a scouting mission. We’re going back out again tomorrow and I don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”  
  
The look of disappointment on Sheena’s face lasted only a split second as an idea struck her, “Well I guess we’ll just have to go right now then!” she said excitedly.  
  
“I suppose that would make the most sense.” Pearl laughed, “Where are we going?”  
  
“I’ve got something in mind.” Sheena said almost suspiciously.  
  
  



	6. The Pact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I speak from experience when I say you probably shouldn't agree to anything when you're half asleep.

Sheena dug into the sand with the heel of her boot, anxiously and impatiently waiting for Pearl. Steven had called her back into the barn before they could get a chance to depart, leaving Sheena to trudge across the beach back to her bike by herself, Pearl insisting that she would meet her there as fast as possible. Sheena snickered to herself, shamefully unsurprised to find herself jealous of a fourteen-year-old kid. Her mind began to wander to what Pearl had told her before. How dangerous was this mission if they weren’t letting Steven come along? Wouldn’t it make sense to bring him if he had healing powers? What on earth could they be facing? A shiver ran down her spine as she caught a brief memory of the monster that nearly squashed her. She could still hear Pearl’s voice screaming into the night, the taste of blood in her mouth. The entire thing made her sick to her stomach. Sheena threw her helmet onto her head and started her bike, hoping the roar of the engine would jostle her thoughts right out of her skull. Pulling herself onto the seat, Sheena closed her eyes and allowed herself to zone out against the sounds of the motorcycle’s vibrating frame. The heat on her skin, the feeling of the bike humming underneath her, it was all so nostalgic and soothing. There was just one thing missing…

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” a gentle voice shook Sheena back to reality. Her eyes popped open to see Pearl standing to attention next the the bike, helmet preemptively fazed onto her head. “I didn’t think that would take so long.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sheena assured her, “did Gazoo and Smurfette have anything else to say about me?”

“Don’t pay those two any mind, they’re just a bit confused. Besides, it was Steven who needed to talk.” Pearl said forlornly.

Sheena cocked an eyebrow, “Is everything alright?”

“Yes yes, everything’s fine.” Pearl whispered, “So where are we headed?”

“Hop on and I’ll show ya, just make sure you hang on to me.” Sheena instructed.

Pearl climbed on behind Sheena, lightly draping her arms around Sheena’s waist. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Pearl, you need to hold on a lot tighter than that.” Sheena laughed.

Pearl’s hands fidgeted a bit, “How tight? I don’t want to overstep some sort of...boundary.”

“Boundary? You’ve already seen me naked I don’t think boundaries are a problem.”

“I told you I didn’t look!” Pearl flushed as she tightened her grip around Sheena.

“That’s a bit better, now let’s ride!”

The bike flew onto the road, Sheena’s hair billowing wildly behind her. Pearl kept her arms fastened tight around Sheena, blankly watching the scenery speed by them. She practically sunk into Sheena as her mind floated off elsewhere, replaying the scene from the barn on loop.

_“Pearl,”_ Steven had said the instant Pearl walked in, _“Tell Lapis that Sheena isn’t bad.”_

_“I’m telling you, something is up with her.”_ Lapis insisted, _“The way she talks, that look in her eye, she’s hiding something.”_

_“Lapis don’t be ridiculous, she’s a normal human.”_ Pearl had rebuttaled, _“She has nothing to hide.”_

_“Tell me, how exactly does cross-species courting work?”_ Peridot piped in, _“Are you using predominantly human or gem courtship rituals?”_

_“We’re uh...still figuring that out. Speaking of which, I really should be going.”_ Pearl said as she turned out the door. Steven tailed behind her, his eyes glittering.

_“So, where are you and Sheena going?”_ he asked excitedly.

_“I’m not entirely sure, some sort of surprise I suppose.”_

_“Do you want to do something fun when you get back?”_ he asked, his voice brimming with excitement, _“I know you guys have to leave really early tomorrow so I thought we could all spend some time together.”_

_“Oh...I’m not sure how long Sheena and I will be out, you might be asleep by the time we get back. But I’m sure Garnet and Amethyst will play with you.”_ Pearl said, her words slow and awkward.

_“Oh...alright. I hope you have fun.”_ Steven replied, his voice noticeably hollow.

Pearl fell back into reality with a start, reflexively squeezing Sheena as if she were about to fall. She laid her head against Sheena’s back as tears slowly streamed down her face. She wasn’t completely sure where they were, but they seemed far away from home. There was barely anything around them, mostly dry fields and a sparse few trees. She closed her eyes tight, desperately wishing she could just fade away. Her insides felt as if they were rotting away, her very soul reduced to a sad acidic puddle. The inside of her mouth tasted of poison, her every breath a fuming, toxic cloud. Her body was heavy, two tons of invisible iron threatening to crush her into oblivion. The only thing she could hear was Steven’s tiny voice echoing through her skull, downing her entire being in an unbearable sea of guilt. Pearl looked up at Sheena, desperate to say something, anything to try and ease her mind. Her words reused to serve her, a weak croaking sound being the best she could muster. In the end it hardly mattered, the sound of the engine drowned out any sounds Pearl made before they could even reach Sheena’s ear. Pearl stewed in her own misery for a few long minutes before Sheena pulled into a gas station.

“I just gotta grab some gas and then we’ll be back on the road.” Sheena said excitedly as she stepped off the bike, “Wait ‘til you see this place, you’re gonna...hey, are you alright?”

Pearl wiped her tears away as quick as she could, desperate to keep herself looking composed, “Yes yes I’m fine.” she lied, “Tell me about where exactly we’re going.”

Sheena pulled a debit card from her pocket, swiping it through the pump’s slot and bringing the pump to the bike, “Well, when I first moved here I got lost on the way to my apartment and found this nature trail. It’s a little far from here, but it’s super pretty. I figured we could take a walk there or something, just spend some time together talking or something, ya know?”

Pearl couldn’t help but feel a small tug of shame at the first thought that hit her mind, “ _Sounds like something Rose would’ve suggested._ ” she cursed at herself as she shook the thought away, “That sounds lovely.” she paused for a moment, “Is this kind of thing typical in ‘human courtship’?

Sheena gave Pearl a confused glance as she put the gas pump back, “Human courtship is just a lot of spending time together and doing stuff for each other really. I guess a lot of people usually go out for food on a lot of dates, but you don’t eat.”

“Oh...I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be a burden.” Pearl sighed.

“What? Pearl it isn’t a big deal, I like just hanging out with you, I don’t really care what we do. Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been mopey all day.”

Pearl rung her hands together clumsily, shifting her eyes around as she spoke, “I suppose I just feel a bit guilty. Steven wanted my attention today but I told him I was busy with you.”

“Is it something important? Do you want me to take you home?”

“It probably wasn’t ‘important’ per se, knowing Steven he probably just wanted to watch cartoons or go to Funland with the other gems and I before we left for our mission.”

“I can’t blame him for wanting to spend time with you.” Sheena shrugged, “Hell, he’s just trying to do what I’m trying to do.” Sheena looked at the ground for a cold moment, “Look, how about I take you home? He probably needs you more than I do.

Pearl paused for a moment, silently mulling it over, “No...no. That wouldn’t be fair to you.” Pearl objected, “Let me just check on him quickly.”

Pearl pulled her cell phone from her gem, frantically dialing Steven’s number. The set it to speaker phone as it began to ring. Sheena simply watched uneasily, unsure of what she was supposed to do or say. Steven picked up after a few rings.

“Hello?”

“Hi Steven, it’s Pearl and Sheena.” Pearl said with fake cheerfulness, “I just wanted to make sure everything is going okay back home.”

“It’s fine I guess.” Steven sighed, “Garnet and Amethyst are getting a bunch of stuff ready for your guys’ mission, so I’m kinda just hanging out by myself.”

“I’m sorry Steven,” Pearl whimpered, “what about Lapis and Peridot?”

“Lapis went another rant about Sheena after you guys left. I couldn’t listen to it anymore.”

“Bitchy blue bimbo.” Sheena said under her breath.

“Anyway, I promised Lion I would bring him to Funland Arcade later. He can’t really play any of the games but he likes watching the games light up.” Steven said, obviously crestfallen.

“Well that sounds fun!” Pearl said, hopeful.

“Yeah I guess.” Steven sighed, “Are you guys having fun?”

“Oh yes, we’re having a wonderful time!” Pearl fibbed.

“That’s good...I don’t wanna keep you guys from your date. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Okay, goodbye.”

Pearl hung up the phone and stored it away into her gem. She slumped down onto the seat of the motorbike with her eyes locked firmly onto the ground. Sheena stayed close by, hesitant to open her mouth. Pearl looked like she was about to start crying again, and Steven didn’t sound much better off just a moment ago. Sheena moved to hold Pearl’s hand, but she pulled away, folding into herself like a wet piece of paper. Sheena felt horrid, partially because she felt bad for Steven and Pearl, and partially because part of her really wanted to move on and continue with the rest of the date. She could almost see Steven sulking in a dark corner somewhere, no one to talk to but himself. She tried to force the thought away, but she simply couldn’t. It was too cruel, too disheartening, and entirely too familiar. 

_“I can’t do that to the poor kid.”_ Sheena thought, _“I’m gonna have to do this ‘do the right thing’ crap again aren’t I?”_

Sheena stood herself in front of Pearl, guiding her gaze to meet hers, “How do we get to the arcade?”

“It’s right off of Boardwalk Street, not terribly far from where I live. Why?”

Sheena took a heavy breath before relaying her idea, “The way I see it, it isn’t fair to take you away from Steven right before this big mission you have to go on. On the other hand, I want to make sure we get some time together before then too. So why don’t we just meet him at Funland? You guys get some time together, we get some time together, no one has to sacrifice anything.”

Pearl cracked a half smile, “That’s not entirely true. You were so excited about doing this, and now we’re not gonna get the chance.”

“I already told you, I don’t really care where we are, I just wanna spend time with you. I can have you to myself next time.” Sheena said as she hopped on to the bike.

Pearl jumped on behind her, happily wrapping her arms around Sheena’s waist, “Thank you Sheena, I won’t forget this.”

Sheena hit the road, tires blazing as they backtracked towards the beach. Pearl kept her grip tight, enjoying the feeling of Sheena’s warm, soft frame in her arms. Pearl was just barely too short to get any sort of view of Sheena’s face, her fluttering pink hair taking up her field of vision. Pearl rested her head on Sheena’s back, watching the scenery fly by. They were definitely going faster than last time, fast enough to be concerning at the very least. Pearl would’ve scolded her for being reckless right then and there, but simply made a mental note to do it later. She felt unfamiliarly calm, completely at ease despite the blistering wind in her face. Sheena meanwhile kept on a mostly forlorn expression, the tiniest hint of a smile keeping her from looking truly depressed. It all sounded so ridiculous when she said it to herself that she couldn’t help but snicker. She was on a date with an alien, which then got canceled in favor of bringing said alien to an arcade with her adopted son. She broke down into silent laughter as they reentered Beach City.

“Steven’s not gonna mind me joining in on your ‘family time’ or whatever, is he?” Sheena shouted behind her.

“Are you kidding? I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.” Pearl called back, “Take a turn right up here.”

The city itself was quiet, aside from the motorcycle ripping through it of course. The very few people Sheena could see paid her and Pearl no mind, idly going about their business. Sheena rode towards the beach, slowing to a crawl as she came up to the wooden boardwalk. She parked outside the large arcade, throwing off her helmet as Pearl’s fazed out of existence. The arcade was almost as empty as the town, something Sheena found incredibly odd. She had many fond memories of arcades as a kid, and they were almost always packed with kids eager to spend their parents’ quarters. Her and Pearl searched the vacant arcade, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of Steven. They spied him in the very back of the arcade, standing in front of a giant screen with Lion by his side. He was playing some sort of dancing game, slowly tapping his feet to the beat of the song being played from its large (albeit cheap) speakers. The game was big enough for two people, giving Sheena an idea.

Sheena sauntered over to the machine, popping a couple of quarters into the machine, “Hey kid, mind if I join in?”

Steven spun around quickly, “Sheena? Pearl? What are you guys doing here?” he asked as the music began to play.

“We just thought your idea sounded fun.” Pearl explained, “I hope you don’t mind us joining you.”

“Mind? Of course I don’t mind!” he laughed happily.

The music picked up into a high energy piece that sounded as if it were about twenty years old. Colorful arrows flew upwards towards the top of the screen, prompting Steven and Sheena to begin dancing. Steven had an easier time of it than Sheena did, hitting dance pad with what seemed like expert precision. Sheena did her best to keep up, missing roughly half the notes in her attempt to match the steps without falling over. Her lungs burst into flames as the song continued into its second minute. Steven wasn’t slowing down at all, his every movement bursting with giddy energy. The song finally came to a close as the game declared Steven the winner, his score nearly double Sheena’s. Sheena stepped off the machine, leaning onto Pearl for balance as she desperately attempted to catch her breath.

“Dear god,” she wheezed, “I am...out of shape.”

“That was so much fun!” Steven said excitedly, his eyes gleaming, “What do you guys wanna do next?”

“Lead the way.” Pearl said, still holding onto Sheena, “We’ll be right behind you.”

Steven ran off deeper into the arcade, leaving Pearl and Sheena tailing behind him. Pearl helped Sheena to her feet, taking hold of her hand and giving her a peck on the check, “Thank you for this. You really didn’t have to do this.”

“Don’t...mention it.” Sheena panted, “Let’s go play some more...hopefully less physical games.”

The trio played arcade games long into the afternoon and evening. Sheena was able to show a considerably higher amount of skill at the traditional games, keeping Steven and Lion enthralled in her display. Her and Steven even managed to convince Pearl to play a few games, although she had a hard time seeing the appeal of more than a few of them. One machine she did find enjoyment in was a puzzle-focused game the required her and Steven to work together to progress onward. Her and Steven spent minutes at a time working out the solutions together, celebrating together whenever they got it right. Sheena watched the gears turn in their heads as a warm, fuzzy feeling enveloped her. She couldn’t really place why, but watching them together made her feel really happy, and perhaps just a touch jealous. 

Steven insisted on dragging Sheena back to the dance game on more than one occasion, leaving her exhausted in a matter of minutes. Pearl took her place, keeping up with Steven better than Sheena could’ve ever hoped. The corners of Sheena’s vision began to bend, her eyes heavy and her body weak. It wasn’t long before Steven was dragging her from game to game, Sheena’s drained body putting up next to no resistance. Pearl insisted that they make their leave once it began to get dark, despite Steven’s protests. He rode home on Lion’s back, waving goodbye and profusely thanking the pair until the moment he was out of sight. Sheena threw herself onto her bike, her body nearly flopping right off of it a moment after.

“Let me take you home.” she yawned.

“That isn’t necessary, besides, you look exhausted. I want you to get home and get some rest.”

“Hey, it isn’t my fault Steven wanted me to play every game in the damn arcade with him.” Sheena growled

“By displaying such interest and skill in most of them, it kind of was your fault.” Pearl laughed, “I know this isn’t exactly the evening you had in mind, but I hope you found it enjoyable.”

“I gotta admit” Sheena murmured sleepily, “today was fun.”

“I agree...Sheena, could I ask one more thing of you?”

“Sure babe, anything you want.” Sheena said as she rubbed her eyes.

“Well...the gems and I are going to be gone for about a week, possibly more. Steven has taken such a shine to you, I was hoping you could come check on him once in awhile? I’m not asking you to babysit, I just-”

“Nah, nah, I get it. You don’t want the little dude to be alone all the time. Yeah I’ll hang out with him.” Sheena laughed, intoxicated on her own fatigue.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to inconvenience yourself.”

“Don’t worry about it, I ain’t got anything better to do anyway.”

Pearl threw her arms around Sheena’s neck, kissing her cheek, “Thank you, I appreciate it, and I know he does too.”

“Don’t mention it. But if I’m doing this, you gotta promise me something.”

“What is it?”

Sheena pulled Pearl out of their embrace, looking into her eyes, “Text me as soon as you’re home. I’m...worried about that mission.”

“Oh Sheena,” Pearl said as she pulled her in for another hug, “I’ll be safe, I promise.”


	7. Food and Drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some habits are learned, whilst others are forced.

Sheena slowly awoke, the sound of her alarm forcing her to rise from her latest stupor. Her head throbbed a bit as she forced herself to stand, nearly tripping on one of the many crumpled beer cans that decorated the floor of her apartment. Sheena looked down at her phone as she switched off the alarm. It was 9:00am, just a couple hours before she had to be in for work. She trudged to the bathroom, her fuzzy memory barely piecing the last twelve or so hours back together. She wasn’t completely sure when the drinking had started, although it was probably as soon as she got home. She looked up at herself in the bathroom mirror, dried tears staining her face and her eyes a dull red. Her hair was a disheveled mess, thanks to her near-restless sleep. She searched her mind as she began to get ready, something silently nagging her from the back of her head. She kept her eyes on the bathroom mirror, too tired to completely commit herself to moving. Something clicked in her mind as she stared at her own dreary reflection.

“Aw crap.” she breathed, “I told Pearl I’d check on Steven. She’d kill me if I let him see me like this.”

She splashed some water on her face, jolting herself into a slightly more awake state. Her eyes met her reflection once more, attacking herself with a look of disgust. Her entire body felt heavy, as if it were made of muddy, wet snow. She ran her hands over her face, weakly whining as her hangover-induced headache stung the back of her eyes. She tried to ignore the feeling of the room spinning around her as she stripped down and threw herself into the shower. She shivered as the cool water cascaded down her body, helping to drag her mind back to a more usable state. Her memory was starting to come back to her, a less than clear picture of the previous night reforming itself before her. She could remember flopping onto her futon, beer in hand as she unwound for the night. Then one beer turned to two, then four, then...well at that point she had blacked out. She stared down at the floor of her shower, a mix of shame and regret making her face hot.

“Alright Sheena, pull yourself together,” she sighed, “make it through work, check on the kid, then the day’s over. Even you should be able to handle that. You’re not the one on a world-saving mission.”

*

A shining beam of light touched down in the middle of the dense jungle. The crystal gems stepped off the warp pad, the only unnatural thing for miles. Pearl and Garnet trekked ahead a few paces to gather their bearings whilst Amethyst stayed close behind, dragging a large garbage bag along behind her. The jungle trees towered over them, a tangled mess of wood and vines in every direction. Garnet took a few steps ahead, pointing deeper into the undergrowth ahead of her.

“Our target is in this direction. There’s human settlements close to where the corrupted gem is hiding out, so we need to move quickly. It should only take a few days to make it there.”

The groups began their journey into the unknown, silently hiking through the foliage. Pearl found herself trailing behind, her mind fluttering off in a few different directions. It was a combination of worry, confusion, and excitement that kept her from completely focusing on the mission at hand. Pearl rung her hands uneasily as she internally fretted over leaving Steven alone for so long. Of course Sheena said she’d check up on him, but Pearl couldn’t deny the fact that she didn’t know her as well as she thought she did. The fact of the matter was she was trusting someone she had only known for a couple of weeks with a very important task. What if Pearl had just made a huge mistake? What if Lapis was right, that Sheena was hiding something? Perhaps she was a robber, or a kidnapper, or something even worse. Pearl shook her head, angrily throwing the negative thoughts to the wind. She told herself that had no reason to think so little of Sheena, she had already earned her trust. Pearl tried to find something around her to keep her mind occupied. Her eyes fell on Amethyst hoisting her bag over her shoulder, and Pearl had a weird feeling she knew what was inside of it.

“Amethyst, please tell me you left some food for Steven.” Pearl sighed.

“I didn’t take _all_ of it,” Amethyst insisted, “I only took the good stuff.”

“Honestly Amethyst, can you really not go a single mission without eating?”

“Hey man, don’t judge. You’re probably gonna end up doing a lot of eating soon too.” Amethyst said matter-of-factly.

“Why on earth would I do that?”

“Uh, hello? You’re dating a human. Pretty much any date humans go on involves eating, so you’d better get used to it.”

“It’s true.” Garnet piped in, “Humans bond through eating.”

“I’ll share some food with you if you want, there has to be _something _you like.” Amethyst offered.__

____

__

Pearl’s body shook as she moved, revolted at what she was being told. Even after living with Steven for so many years, human customs and mannerisms were still a mostly unknown territory to her. Pearl had a few less than pleasant memories of Steven and Amethyst trying to get her to eat with them on a few occasions. She had given it a couple of honest tries for Steven’s sake, but it only got worse when she learned what to expect. Grinding it down into paste as the taste stained the inside of her mouth, forcing it down her throat and leaving it to sit in her stomach, it was all so vile. The idea of doing such a thing to bond was beyond unsettling. The idea of doing for pleasure was just as baffling. Sheena didn’t realistically expect her to partake in such a ritual, did she? Sheena knew she didn’t eat, but if it was really that important…. Why did humans have to be so complicated?

“I’ll...consider it.”

*

The sun was beginning to dip past the horizon as Sheena’s bike blazed into Beach City. Her body limply held onto the handlebars, her entire body drained and weary. Work had thankfully been slow, giving Sheena time to pick herself back up off the proverbial floor. Her head was still pounding, her stomach was still churning, and she still couldn’t shake the feeling she was about to start crying, but she was beginning to think a bit more clearly now. If someone had asked her what she was feeling, she’d have hard time spitting out an answer. There was guilt, regret, sorrow, all topped off with a heaping helping of self-hatred. 

“I gotta stop doing this,” she said to herself as the buildings whizzed by, “I can barely even remember last night. I’m lucky I didn’t hurt myself.”

The beach was just coming into view, the smell of the ocean wrapping itself around her. She skidded to a stop once she made it to the sand, peeking down at her tires. She snickered, overcome with an odd feeling that she was about to make another poor decision. 

“I still don’t have sand tires...oh screw it.” she grummbled.

She sped off onto the beach, leaning forward to redistribute her weight and keep herself steady. Her bike wobbled and shook, her tires unable to stay completely straight on the loose ground. She grinned as the adrenaline shot through her body, momentarily blasting her negative feelings away. Sand was flying at her sides, her bike digging a small trail behind her. Sheena stood up on her bike, partially to keep balance and partially to help her visibility. She could see Steven’s house faintly in the distance, the distance between her and it quickly closing. She hit her brake, nearly toppling over as she haphazardly came to a stop. Sheena half-fell from her bike as she threw her helmet onto her handlebars. 

“Well, that was fun.” she chuckled to herself as she walked up the the front door, giving it a hearty knock.

“Come in!” Steven called from the other side.

Sheena stepped in, surprised to see Steven wasn’t alone. There was a girl with him, who looked to be about his age. They were huddled together on his bed, watching tv. Sheena stifled a laugh, she couldn’t help herself.

“Sorry little dude, I didn’t mean to interrupt anything. If I knew you had a girl over I would’ve left you alone.”

“That’s okay!” he said, cheerfully unaware of what Sheena was implying, “She wanted to meet you anyway! Sheena, this is Connie.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Connie waved, “you’re Pearl’s girlfriend right?”

“You could say that.” Sheena said, climbing up the steps into Steven’s room, “What’re you guys watching?”

“Crying Breakfast Friends!” Steven replied, “You wanna watch with us?”

“No thanks, I don’t need to be reminded about how sad I am.” Sheena chuckled, “I just wanted to see if you needed anything before I head home.”

Steven and Connie shared a semi-confused glance, “No we’re fine, the gems used to leave me behind all the time.” Steven replied, his voice noticeably hollow, “Thanks anyway.”

“Used to? You mean you usually go with them to do this dangerous crap?” Sheena replied.

“Yeah, it’s actually a lot of fun!” Steven said, his eyes gleaming like stars.

“And after I got better with my sword, Pearl started letting me go too!” Connie added, “But I guess they’re going somewhere really dangerous, so they told us we couldn’t go.” she sighed.

“Yeah, apparently humans are too ‘vulnerable’ and ‘flammable’ for this mission.” Steven huffed.

“Uh, where is this mission again?” Sheena inquired

“An active volcano.” the children responded simultaneously.

“An active **what**.”

*

The gems moved long into the night, only stopping when it became too dark to see properly. They plopped down where they were, building a small fire to rest by and collect their bearings. The flames illuminated the dark jungle, causing the gems to force long shadows across the ground. 

“We’ll continue moving once the sun is up,” Garnet said, “if we hurry, we might be able to shave about a day off our trip.”

“Sounds good, we need to get that gem into the temple as soon as possible.” Pearl said, “Why it decided a lava filled volcano was a good place to live is anyone’s guess, but it can’t be safe.”

“Yeah, plus you gotta get back and get a victory kiss from Sheena.” Amethyst laughed as she dug around in her food bag.

“Amethyst, please.” Pearl sighed, “I could do without your jokes right now.”

“Aw come on, I bet she misses you. A big smooch would probably cheer her up.” Amethyst teased.

“You really think she misses me?” Pearl piped up, unable to hide the overtones of desperation in her voice.

“Of course she does, can you seriously not tell how into you she is?”

“I do admit that picking up on human mannerisms is a bit...difficult for me.” Pearl said quietly.

“Trust me, if you just laid one on her the next time you saw her, she’d probably faint.”

“Amethyst, that’s terrible advice.” Garnet interjected, “You can’t just make a move on someone before learning their boundaries.”

“Garnet’s right, we haven’t even had a proper one-on-one date yet.” Pearl sighed. “I just hope she doesn’t think I’m disinterested.”

“Nah P, she’ll understand. Besides, who else is gonna stop all the giant monsters?” Amethyst replied, “Here, take this.”

Amethyst handed Pearl her bag of food, “Why are you giving me this?” she asked.

“I told you, if you and Sheena are gonna go on more dates, than you’re gonna need to get used to eating. So go ahead, try something.”  
Pearl eyed the inside of the bag apprehensively, severely wishing she was fighting a corrupted gem instead. She stick her hand in, cringing at the various sticky, starchy, and squishy things that she could feel inside. Finally, she was able to grab a hold of something solid. Pulling it from the bag, she found herself holding a bright red apple, something she was mostly able to recognize. Steven mentioned liking these more than once, giving Pearl a bit of hope that eating it wouldn’t be as unbearable as she was expecting. She took a deep breath, biting into it with all of her might. The overly sweet taste immediately poisoned her mouth, nearly forcing her to spit it out. Pearl gnawed on it achingly, shivering as her teeth ground the fruit into an unsettling paste. The sticky goop finally slithered down her throat, leaving behind a few pieces of apple peel in between her teeth.

“That looked painful.” Garnet said.

“It was.” Pearl breathed.

“Oh don’t be such a drama queen,” Amethyst said, rolling her eyes, “the second bite will be easier.”

Pearl looked down at the piece of fruit in her hand, still mostly intact, “I hope so.” 


	8. Fruit Loops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A complete part of a balanced ship.

Pearl threw the apple core to the ground triumphantly. Pride washed over her, as if she had just conquered a horribly powerful foe. Her teeth ached and the inside her mouth felt as if it were about to split apart, but she still wore a satisfied smile. She did it, she actually did it! Despite all the churning in her stomach and most of her confidence draining out of her body, she managed to overcome what seemed like an impossible task. Her skin had finally stopped crawling, and she had only gagged a small handful of times. Pearl felt the warm light of progress shine upon her as the remains of the apple sat in her stomach. She was over the moon! Present company however, was a bit less impressed.

“Great job Pearl,” Amethyst laughed, “it only took you all night to eat that apple.”

“Don’t be ridiculous Amethyst,” Pearl said with a cursory glance towards the moon, “there’s at least three and a half hours of darkness left.”

“Yeah, but there’s about a million hours of _dork_ ness left. Here, this might be more your speed.” Amethyst said, tossing Pearl a can of soda from her bag.

“Now, this I know I can handle.” Pearl said, confidently cracking the can open and taking a swig of it.

Garnet kept her eyes locked on the stars, “Don’t forget, we have an important mission to attend to soon.”

“Not to worry Garnet,” Pearl replied, “this mission is our top priority.”

“Seriously, I wanna get this over with so we can go home.” Amethyst groaned.

“Amethyst, this is serious.” Garnet said, “We need to contain this gem before something horrible happens.”

“What do you think it’s even gonna do? According to you it’s just hanging out in a volcano all day.” Amethyst said.

“I’m not sure.” Garnet admitted, “But it’s better to bring it back to the temple in any case. It’s safer there.”

Amethyst groaned as she stretched into a stand, “If it’s _so_ dangerous, why didn’t be bring Steven? Ya know, that one with the shield?”

“Amethyst,” Pearl replied quietly, “you know he can’t protect us all at once. He’s not… he’s not Rose.”

The air became heavy as the group went silent, “Hey,” Amethyst said quietly, “I didn’t mean it like that I-”

“I know, I know.” Pearl sighed, downing the rest of her soda, “I’m sorry, that was the wrong thing to say.” Pearl looked down at the ground solemnly, “Although, I do wish she was here to help us...more so than usual, anyway.”

Garnet leaned back against a tree, gazing into the fire, “She would certainly make the mission less dangerous.”

Amethyst flopped into the dirt gracelessly, “Yeah, plus we’d probably be done by now if she was with us.”

Pearl snickered to herself, “She would’ve hit the ground running the instant she heard humans were in danger.”

Amethyst stifled a laugh before adding, “Imagine what she would’ve done when she found out you were hitting a human.”

“ **Amethyst!** ” Pearl recoiled as her face flushed, partially in anger and partially in embarrassment.

“Pearl, calm down.” Garnet said, her words drowned out by Amethyst's mad cackling.

“Yeah Pearl,” Amethyst said in between fits of laughter, “Don’t get your tights in a twist.”

“My tights are perfectly fine, thank you!” Pearl shouted exasperatedly, “And for your information, I am not ‘hitting’ Sheena, not that it would be any of your business!”

Amethyst held up her hands defensively, “Jeez, someone’s upset they’re not getting any.”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Garnet bellowed before Pearl could retaliate again, “Amethyst, is antagonizing Pearl really necessary?”

“Aw come on, she knows I’m just messing with her. Right P?”

Pearl didn’t offer much of a response, giving Amethyst a silent sideways glare. Amethyst responded in turn with her own sour grimace.

“Aw c’mon, I was only teasing.” Amethyst insisted.

“I’m aware.” Pearl said listlessly.

“Alright, alright.” Amethyst groaned, “I’m sorry. Let’s just talk about something else.”

The forest was silent, the sound of the crackling fire filling the empty air. Pearl’s face slowly fell from angry to disheartened, hugging her knees to her chest as her eyes watched the smoke dissipate into the sky. Her head was spinning, her thoughts crashing into each other as if they were at war. She made a small noise in distress, barely audible despite the stillness around her. It all came over her so quickly. The guilt, the indescribably soul crushing guilt. Sheena and Rose’s faces took up most of her vision, her body feeling stiff when she realized she wasn’t completely sure whom she she should be looking towards. What would Rose say if she knew about Sheena? What would Sheena say if she knew Pearl was still thinking about Rose? These horrid thoughts echoed in her mind, amplifying the illusions into a blinding force. She finally settled for squeezing her eyes shut just long enough to force them away, before allowing herself to get lost in the fire once more. 

Amethyst’s gaze darted between her two companions, the awkward silence crushing her bones into dust. Pearl suddenly looked like she was about to be sick, and Amethyst was fairly certain it wasn’t because of that apple. Shame bit at her skin as she retraced the past few minutes. It was just one joke! Why did Pearl blow such a gasket? Amethyst drummed her hands on the dirt, trying to pretend the silence didn’t bother her. She looked to Garnet for some sort of que, some hint of what to say or do to make it all stop. When she received none, she sighed and crawled over to Pearl’s side. Pearl gave her little more than a passing glance, quickly returning to her idle smoke-gazing.

“Look. I’m sorry, okay?” Amethyst said, “I didn’t think that would tick you off that much.”

“I may have overreacted.” Pearl admitted, “If I may be honest, Sheena and I’s....relationship has me a bit on edge.”

“Why?” Amethyst asked, tilting her head in turn.

“It’s hard to explain.” Pearl murmured, “I enjoy her company but…” Pearl’s voice trailed off, adding to the silence.

Amethyst patted Pearl’s shoulder reassuringly, “Well, if you need to talk about it, we’re here. Right Garnet?”

“Right.” Garnet replied simply.

Pearl’s mouth stretched back into its previous smile. Her mind was beginning to settle, the weight on her shoulders lessening, “Thank you both. Amethyst, may I ask you something?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“How long until this horrid artificial grape flavor finds its way out of my mouth?”

*

Sheena clutched handfuls of her hair, squeezing her eyes shut, “Okay, let me get this straight. The three women responsible for you are scaling an **active volcano** right now?”

“That’s right.” Steven said uncomfortably casually.

A conflicting whirlpool of emotions crashed into Sheena’s body, her heart pounding and her breath shortening. She tried her best to remain stoic, fearing she would startle the children, “Okay. That’s...that’s fine. That’s cool, more power to them.”

“It really isn’t anything to worry about,” Connie piped in, “the gems do these sorts of things all the time.”

Sheena eyed the pair disbelievingly, “You guys aren’t like, worried about them?”

The children shared a glance as Steven shrugged, “Kinda. They’ve been going on missions like this since I was a baby. I’m kinda used to it.”

Sheena slunk to the floor, sitting next to the bed as she tried to steady herself. Pearl had told her about the dangerous things she had to do, and it didn’t bother her then, but something about hearing a kid talk about it made it seem more...real. An actual alien was fighting an actual monster in a volcano, right this very instant. There was a realistic chance that Pearl and the others could get seriously hurt, or worse. The part of her that pretended to be rational, functioning adult was utterly terrified at the thought. The rest of her however, began to feel very numb. The conflicting emotions overwhelmed her, until finally her mind gave up and shut everything down, leaving only a faint feeling of worry and fear. She broke out into a cold sweat as she stared off into space, unsure of what to do or say next.

“Uh, Sheena?” Steven asked slowly, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” she murmured, “Just a little wigged out I guess. I’m still getting used to whole ‘aliens being real’ thing.” she laughed dryly.

Steven hopped off the bed, seating himself on the floor next to Sheena, “The gems know what they’re doing. If they run into something they can’t handle, Alexandrite can bail them out.” 

“Who?”

Connie plopped down to Sheena’s other side, “Alexandrite. She’s the fusion of all the gems put together.”

Sheena’s eyes widened, “Wait a second now. They can...fuse together? What does that even mean? How does that work?”

“It’s a little complicated,” Steven said, “but basically, two or more gems can combine to make a bigger, stronger one.”

“One time, Steven and I tried to run away, so the gems formed Alexandrite, lifted up the bus we were on, and forced us back out. It was pretty scary.” Connie said.

“Here, I have a picture of her.” Steven said as he handed Sheena his phone.

Sheena peered down at the screen, trying to make out who or what exactly she was looking at. She saw a multi-armed, alien with what appeared to be a pair of sunglasses instead of eyes. Her skin was a burnt pink, clad in a dark teal leotard, magenta sash, and indigo leggings. The hair was what Sheena’s eyes were drawn to first, a giant mane of turquoise that reached all the way down to her back. Would it be appropriate to call the woman she was looking at pretty? She was so otherworldly looking it was hard to say for sure. Finally, Sheena noticed the biggest detail of the photo, namely, Alexandrite herself. She was standing on the beach next to Steven’s house, and she was absolutely **towering** over it. One misstep and the entire house would be reduced to a pile of rubble. Sheena’s eyes began to glimmer, an unquestionable feeling of awe and excitement filling her spirit.

“Oh my god!” she finally exclaimed, “She’s like a freaking Godzilla monster or something! That’s so cool!”

“Haha, yeah.” Steven laughed, “I don’t get to see her that often though, they only fuse when an emergency comes up.”

“And how often would that be?”

“A lot less often than you’d think, honestly. Like we said, the gems know what they’re doing.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Sheena smirked as she gave Steven his phone back, “when I saw her take out that monster on our first date, I thought that was the coolest thing in the world! The time I nearly broke my spine when the big one showed up….not as cool.”

“Fighting the monsters isn’t easy.” Connie admitted, “That’s why we have to stay behind sometimes.”

Sheena leaned back against the bed, relieved to feel her nerves relax, “I tell ya, if I were your guy's age, I’d be so pissed if I got left behind. I’ve always wanted to meet aliens, fight monsters, and see the universe.” she chuckled before adding, “It probably didn’t help that I spent most of my life watching the Sci-Fi channel.”

“It is cool but,” Steven paused for a moment, moving his hand towards his gem, “it isn’t exactly like you think it is.”

“Yeah I figured.” Sheena huffed, “I feel so weird talking to Pearl. I wanna ask her all these questions about who she is and where she’s from but,” Sheena’s eye caught a glimpse of Rose’s mural, “it didn’t exactly go well last time.”

Steven’s eyes lit up as a hypothetical light bulb shone above his head. He quickly jumped to his feet, pacing about the room as he fired off a text message.

“You alright little dude? What’s going on?” Sheena inquired.

“Well, I don’t know a ton of gem stuff, but I do know someone who does!” he exclaimed happily, “C’mon, this’ll be fun!”

Sheena’s eyes darted between Steven and the door, “I don’t know kid, I really oughta-”

“You’ll get to ride the warp pad again.” Steven sang.

“Alright. Let’s go.”


	9. Hot Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bird mom is best mom

Smoke billowed out from the volcano’s crater, choking the air and blocking out the sun. The uneven ashen ground was difficult to traverse, each step taking a bit more force than one would expect. Small streams of lava trickled down the volcano’s face, roasting anything that got too close. Even for the gems, the heat was nearly unbearable, bogging down their bodies as they finally reached the top of the volcano. The gems peered into the bubbling magma below, the roasting heat attacking their bodies. 

“We climbed all the way up here, and the stupid monster isn’t even here!” Amethyst groaned.

“I’ll jump down and look for it, you two search the perimeter up here.” Garnet said, diving into the lava without a second thought.

“I always forget she can swim in lava.” Amethyst murmured.

Pearl trudged past her, scanning the craggy mountainside, “Come on Amethyst, we need to keep looking.”

“Pearl, in case you haven’t noticed, there isn’t anything up here besides us. I’m pretty sure we would’ve noticed a giant corrupted gem on the way up here.”

Pearl scratched the side of her head in thought as her steps slowed down, “I suppose you’re right.” Pearl winced as her stomach made a horrific noise that almost seemed to echo. 

Amethyst shot Pearl a mischievous smirk, “Still digesting that apple?”

“Is that what that is? How long is this supposed to take?” Pearl asked, obviously annoyed.

“Eh, I’m sure you’ll be done with it by the time you and Sheena go on your next date.” Amethyst laughed.

Pearl’s expression went blank, “Amethyst, may I ask you something?”

“Go for it.”

“You dated a human before, what did you two do together?” Pearl asked, the words falling awkwardly out of her mouth.”

“What? I never...oh, you mean Vidalia. We didn’t really ‘date’, but we mostly just blared rock music and ate greasy food at her place.”

“...Sounds lovely.” Pearl grumbled.

“It was,” Amethyst sighed, happily reminiscing, “it was like, our thing, ya know?”

Pearl crossed her arms over her chest “Sheena and I have a thing,” she huffed quietly, “everytime she gets anywhere near me a monster shows up. And then whenever we _are_ alone, I find a way to mess it up.”

“Aw come on, it’s not that bad.” Amethyst assured her, “You couldn’t have screwed up _that_ bad if she still wants to go out with you.”

Pearl’s gaze fell to the ground, “I know you’re probably right but, I can’t help but feel bad. She’s putting so much effort into this...odd relationship we’ve developed, and I keep disappointing her.” Pearl forced down a slight hitch in her throat as she continued, “I want to relate to her, to let her know that I want this just as much as she does. I just, I don’t-”

Amethyst threw an arm around Pearl’s waist, cutting her off before she could ramble any further, “Okay, here’s what you’re gonna wanna do. Set up a date next time you see her, I know a great place you can go.”

“Really?” Pearl said, her voice regaining a bit of hope, “Where?”

The ground rumbled as a horrific screech poisoned the air. The gems whipped around, shocked to find a gigantic corrupted gem half-hanging out of the volcano’s crater. The building-sized creature resembled a fire ant, with an octagon-cut crimson gem between its golden eyes. Its segmented body was covered in hundreds of pale pink feathers, two pairs of eagle-like wings flapping wildly from its back. Garnet was perched upon its head, pounding away at it with her fists.

“Pearl, Amethyst! I could use some help here!” she bellowed as the monster tried to buck her off.

“We’ll talk about this later.” Pearl said as she drew her weapon, “You assist Garnet, I’ll keep the monster distracted from the front.”

“You got it P.” Amethyst said, shapeshifting into a bird to get to the creature’s head.

The creature caught sight of Amethyst and snapped at her with its razor sharp mandibles. Amethyst ducked and weaved out of its way, losing a few feathers in the process. The horrendus insectoid refused to give up however, seemingly ignoring Garnet’s assault to try and get to Amethyst. The monster’s jaws opened wide as it spat fireballs at its airborne enemy, narrowly missing its every shot. Pearl chucked her spear at the monster’s face, forcing it to turn its attention to her instead. Conjuring a new weapon, Pearl charged at the beast. The monster reared up, preparing another fire attack. Garnet smashed the monster’s head with all of her might, forcing it into the ground as its fire breath burst against the stony terrain. The stray sparks singed Pearl’s body as Amethyst landed by Garnet’s side.

“Pearl! Are you alright?!” she called down below.

Pearl picked herself up, wobbling a bit as the scent of smoke assaulted her nose. She couldn’t help but smirk, she could almost hear Sheena’s voice behind her.

“ _You’re actually like...a smokin’ alien babe!_ ”

“I’m perfectly fine!” Pearl laughed as her monsterous foe began to rise once more, “Let’s take this thing down!”

*

Sheena jumped off the warp pad excitedly, Steven and Connie following behind her. The gently setting sun bathed the field in a warm orange glow, the faintest hint of stars appearing in the sky. Peridot was pushing a large chalkboard out of the barn, setting up a small ‘classroom’ just outside the door. The trio walked over to her, Sheena’s eyes crawling all over the odd building in front of her.

“Dang Pee-Wee,” Sheena chuckled, “I like your pad.”

“It’s Peridot.” Peridot said stiffly, “But, thank you. Here, take a seat.”

Peridot waved a hand towards the barn, pulling a metal chair out of it and into the air, placing it right behind Sheena. Sheena plopped down into it, eyes wide.

“Can all of you guys do that?” She asked.

“Nope, just me.” Peridot smirked, looking smug as ever, “Now, Steven tells me you’re interested in learning about my species.”

“That’s right.”

“Well, I’m more than happy to give you some information, as long as you offer me the same courtesy.”

Sheena eyed Peridot nervously, “You’re not going to probe me or something, are you?”

“Only metaphorically.” Peridot reassured her, “You’re an odd specimen, even by human standards.”

“I’m gonna take that as a compliment.” Sheena looked over Peridot’s head into the barn behind her, “Hey, where’s the blue one?”

“Lapis? She’s flying around who-knows-where. Don’t worry, if she were here, I wouldn’t bring you here.” Peridot paused for a moment before adding, “For both of our sakes.”

Sheena exhaled a breath of relief, “Alright, good. So uh, what do you wanna know?”

“Well, frankly I’m curious as to why you don’t just ask Pearl for this information. Isn’t getting to know each other a part of the whole ‘mating ritual’ thing?”

Sheena found three pairs of curious eyes staring her down, causing her to shift in her seat a tad uncomfortably, “Well...she told me a little. I just don’t wanna ask her something...offensive?” Sheena found herself tripping over her words, “Besides, she’s off on her mission anyway, and I doubt she gets cell service in a frickin’ volcano.”

The corners of Peridot’s mouth twisted into a disappointed grimace, “Well I’m afraid if you’re seeking proper dating advice, you’ve come to the wrong Gem. I was under the impression you wanted to learn about the scientific aspects of the Gem race. I suppose-”

“Wait!” Sheena interrupted, eyes gleaming like stars, “That sounds cool too! I love stuff like this!”

“You do?” Steven asked.

“Are you kidding? I’ve wanted to meet aliens since I was like 9 years old. Besides, this gives me something to talk about with Pearl when she comes back. Our last few talks went a bit...poorly.”

Peridot squinted her eyes a bit at the sad-looking human, “Very well. What do you want to know first?”

Sheena scratched the back of her head in thought for a moment, “Well, Pearl told me you guys were like, made out of light or something. What does that even mean?”

“Steven, Connie, come here.” Peridot beckoned. She gestured towards her two living examples, “Humans, as I’m sure you know, are made up of water, muscle, bones, and various other disgusting parts.”

“Hey!” Connie snapped.

“However,” Peridot continued, “Gems are different.” She pointed at the gem embedded into her forehead, “Our gems create physical constructs out of light energy, much like how water and muscle form your body.”

“And that’s why you guys can shapeshift right? You’re just making the light move in a different way?”

“Exactly.” Peridot said, obviously a bit impressed by Sheena’s deduction, “Of course, shapeshifting is hardly worth the effort.”

“What do you mean?”

“Shapeshifting takes a lot of energy, or so I’ve been told.” Peridot said, quietly muttering the second half of that statement, “The only one around here who’s good at it is Amethyst, and that’s only because she spends so much time sleeping and eating that she has gigantic reserves of excess energy.”

“It can’t be that hard, I saw Pearl do it no problem. She even carried me back to my house.” Sheena explained.

“Really? That’s amazing!” Steven exclaimed.

“I’ve been training under Pearl for months now, and I haven't seen her shapeshift once.” Connie said.

“Really? That’s odd, I wonder-”

“That brings me to my first question,” Peridot interrupted, “why exactly are you so interested in forming a relationship with a member of another species?”

Sheena crossed her arms over her chest, “May I ask why you’re so interested?” 

“Just a simple curiosity. As I said before, you interest me.” Peridot explained.

“Well, I didn’t even know she as an alien when I first met her. I just thought she was cool. And cute.” Sheena shrugged, pretending she wasn’t blushing.

Peridot stared up at her dumbstruck, “You didn’t realize that the pale woman with a gem in her head wasn’t a human?”

“Look, I’ve seen some crazy body mods in my day. I don’t judge.” 

“And yet the mentions of never eating and not requiring sleep weren’t a red flag for you?” Peridot said, slowly beginning to think that any knowledge Sheena had would be sparse at best.

“Oh! That’s what I wanted to ask.” Sheena said, a proverbial light bulb coming on in her head, “I wanted to take Pearl out when she got back, but she hates eating. What do Gems do for fun?”

“Like I said, I’m not the one to ask for dating advice.” Peridot restated, “I could explain to you how we generate near infinite energy from our gems, or how a Gem that has never and/or hardly eats will feel the effects of any food eaten with incredibly increased potency, but I cannot tell you what an acceptable substitute would be in a mating ritual.”

“Well...what do _you_ do for fun?”

“Watch _Camp Pining Hearts_ , make meep-morps, browse the internet.” Peridot listed, counting on her fingers.

“You had all that on your home planet?”

“Oh stars no,” Peridot laughed, “I merely adapted to my new surroundings, thanks to Steven, and found what interested me.”

“Yeah, Pearl’s idea of fun is...kinda weird.” Steven admitted, “She’s usually organizing something, or cleaning stuff, or going on missions.”

“Sounds like she needs to learn how to relax.” Sheena mumbled to herself.

“Yes yes, that’s all well and good.” Peridot said as she marched to Sheena’s side, “Now, tell me about these, ‘body mods’.” 

*  
The winged ant soared over the volcano, pelting its attackers with ballistic fire attacks. Dozens of feathers rained down upon the land below as the monster’s roars echoed through the sky. Pearl clutched her stomach, partially in pain and partially in anxiety as she watched Amethyst and Garnet attack it. Her two comrades were precariously perched atop the beast, beating it down with every ounce of strength they could muster. Despite how awful her body felt, Pearl refused to let herself lose hope. She threw her spears with resolve, managing to land at least a few hits before needing to dodge another counter attack.

“Pearl! Pearl!” Garnet called in between punches, “Can you hear me?!”

“I don’t think she can.” Amethyst lamented, “I hope she doesn’t get roasted down there.”

Pearl dove behind a nearby boulder, flinching as searing hot flames scorched it. Pastel pink feathers continued to fall from the creature’s hide, contrasting against the black and brown battlefield. Pearl held her hand out and allowed one to land in her palm. She ran her fingers over it, turning and inspecting it thoroughly. The many fibers of the feather were tightly bound, interlocked together like a piece of chainmail. Pearl eyed the creature above her, noting the lack of feathers on its underside. A sharp pang in her stomach forced Pearl’s attention downward once more.

“Stupid food.” Pearl growled, “Sheena’s gonna get me...wait. I have an idea!”

Pearl took a deep, quaking breath body began to glow. Her physical form melted and changed, growing and shrinking before finally settling on a shape. Pearl transformed herself into a large, heron like bird with a long, sharp beak. Her wings were long enough to whisk her through the open sky, her body big enough to carry a full-grown adult. Her stomach cried out in agony as it began to share its pain with Pearl’s entire abdomen, but she refused to pay it any mind. With a flap of her powerful wings, Pearl shot herself upwards towards the airborne monster. Aiming her beak upwards, Pearl impaled the creature, destroying its physical body. She quickly swooped down to catch Amethyst and Garnet, who was already in the process of bubbling the monster’s gem. Pearl skidded against the ground, fighting the urge to throw up as she reverted to normal.

“That was awesome P!” Amethyst cheered, “How’d you come up with that?”

“You can thank Sheena.” the seasick Pearl said, “I couldn’t have done it without her.”

“Sounds like you gotta take her out next time ya see her.” Amethyst grinned, “and I think I know how you can get to her even faster.”

“How?”

Amethyst hoisted Pearl off the ground with one arm, wrapping the other around Garnet’s midsection. In a split second, Amethyst morphed herself into a rocket ship, simultaneously pulling Garnet and Pearl inside. Her engines began to rev, her body shaking as she prepared for liftoff.

“A-Amethyst, I’m not sure about this!” Pearl stammered.

“Well too bad! I’m sick of walking! **Blast off!** ”

Amethyst exploded upwards, carrying her teammates back to their home at a breakneck pace. Pearl curled up into a queasy ball, Garnet patting her back calmly. Pearl’s mind was swimming, the rush of battle leaving her feeling simultaneously exhausted and alert. Perhaps it was this, or perhaps it was Amethyst’s less than stellar flying skills, but it certainly felt like it was going to be a long ride.

*

“For the last time, the Gems have never abducted cows. We have no use for them, and if we did, we certainly wouldn’t be letting ourselves get caught doing so.” Peridot said, her voice dripping with aggravation.

“Sheena’s kinda got a point though.” Connie interjected, “Where did that stereotype even come from?”

“I blame uncreative Hollywood types.” Steven shrugged.

“All I’m saying is that if you guys have been here as long as you say you have, than there’s a pretty good chance you had something to do with it becoming a popular idea.” Sheena explained.

Peridot stomped her feet into the dirt, “The tropes set up for otherworldly life by humans are not accurate! We don’t all go around abducting farm animals and crashing spaceships!”

An earth-shaking kaboom rocked the land around them, knocking the group onto their backsides. A thick cloud of dirt contaminated the air, making it impossible to see for about fifteen seconds. Amethyst’s flight path wasn’t exactly the safest, but she did make it back to the barn in record time. She yanked herself off the ground with a low groan, her body returning to its normal shape.

“I kinda botched the landing. Are you guys okay?”

“I’m fine.” Garnet said, already on her feet to assist Steven and Connie.

“I’m alright, I landed on something soft.” Pearl said groggily, not realizing she was laying right on top of Sheena until the dust cleared.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Sheena chuckled.

Pearl could feel her face flush as she attempted to construct a sentence, “Oh my, I’m so sorry! Are you alright? Let me just-”

Amethyst had rushed to Pearl’s side before she could embarrass herself further, “Pearl, didn’t you wanna ask Sheena something?” Amethyst not-so-subtly hinted through gritted teeth.

“Er...yes! Yes I did.” Pearl said as she stood, desperately trying to ignore the horrid churning in her stomach, “Sheena, are you...would you like to...um..” Pearl’s words came out in a soft, jumbled mess.

“Oh for God’s sake.” Amethyst grunted, “Just ask her out!”

“Amethyst! I was about to!” Pearl insisted despite the evidence piled against her, “Sheena, would you like to go on a date sometime soon?”

“Sure.” Sheena answered, a bit surprised, “Where to? Should I dress up?”

It finally dawned on Pearl that she didn’t even ask Amethyst where this supposedly ‘great place’ was. She tried her best to sound convincing when she said, “It’s a surprise! I’ll have to give you the details later, I’m still a bit shaken from my mission.”

“Sounds good.” Sheena smiled.

It was all downhill from there.


	10. Cold Feet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isn't date night fun? Plan a nice night together, get all dressed up, have an existential crisis or two....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a real love/hate relationship with these in-betweenish chapters. I always feel like there's not enough going on, but I also don't wanna post a 20 page chapter that's hard to follow.
> 
> Anyway, sorry about the wait. I'm trying my best to get something resembling a schedule going, but I can't make any promise atm. I thank you all for your patience.

The floor of Sheena’s apartment was littered with clothing of all kinds. Shirts, dresses, pants, jackets, and skirts (not to mention about ten different copies of the same shirt she wore almost every day) all forming a trail into Sheena’s bathroom. Sheena stood in the pile, barely dressed in front of her mirror as she sifted through her wardrobe.

“Jesus, I didn’t think I owned so many clothes.” Sheena grabbed her phone and quickly texted Pearl.

**_Sheena: Hey babe, just wondering how much I should get dressed up for our date tonight? We are still on for tonight right?_ **

Sheena cringed to herself as she set her phone down, “Why did I call her babe? She’s gonna think I’m-

Sheena jumped as her phone buzzed. She grabbed it quickly and scanned the text.

**_Of course! Dress fancy but not too fancy. I’ll pick you up later hot stuff ;)_ **

“What does that even mean?” Sheena groaned as she continued her rummaging.

Sheena dug through the absolute avalanche of clothing she found herself in, although she had no idea what she was looking for. Fancy but not too fancy? Half fancy? Casually fancy? Sheena barely considered herself capable of being casually passable, so she found herself a bit stuck. Even as unexpectedly large as her wardrobe was, it wasn’t exactly extravagant. Of course, there was also her sinking suspicion that most of these old clothes wouldn’t fit, there was a reason she stuck to the same few outfits whenever she could. She held a few choices up to herself infront of her mirror.

“I wanna look nice, but I don’t wanna look slutty.” a small smirk crept onto her face as she thought about it for another moment, “Well, maybe a _little_ slutty.”  


*

Pearl made an unamused face as she stared at her phone. Amethyst had pulled up the website of that ‘perfect place’ she had been talking about. Saying that Pearl disagreed with the assertion would be like saying that fire disagreed with water. Pearl deeply hoped that this was some sort of prank, but Amethyst seemed unwavering.

“Aw come on P, it’s not that bad.” Amethyst insisted.

“Easy for you to say.” Pearl grimaced.

“Pearl. It’s a pizza place.” Amethyst replied flatly.

“I’m aware of that.” Pearl shuddered, “I don’t see how this is a good idea.”

“It’s a good idea because Sheena will like it and you’ll be able to tolerate it. Besides, I don’t think the guy that owns the pizza place in town ever really forgave us for caving in his roof.”

Pearl scrolled through the webpage slowly, although it was mostly pictures of the restaurant itself and the menu. It certainly looked more upscale than any of the establishment in Beach City, however that wasn’t exactly saying much. Pearl did see the logic at the very least, and being away from Beach City and all that came with it certainly sounded nice. Pearl’s eyes finally fell on the address.

“Amethyst this place is miles away, how would I get Sheena there?”

“What are you talking about? Just take the-” Amethyst made a face as if she had just been struck in the head, “Oh yeah, you don’t have your car.”

“Amethyst.” Pearl sighed.

“Hey hey, it’s alright!” Amethyst insisted, “I got a whole bunch of car junk in my room, we can just _make_ a car.”

“You expect me to build a car out of garbage in less than a day?” Pearl responded, less than amused.

“You built a rocket out of trash in like, three. Besides, I’ll be helping! I’ll even get Peridot to help us!”

Pearl got up and paced around the room, a defeated air hanging around her. Why didn’t she think this through? She silently berated herself for spending half the previous mission thinking about this date without even knowing what was going on. That’s when her phone went off.

“It’s Sheena. I’m going to have to reschedule, there’s no way I can- hey!”

Amethyst snatched the phone out of Pearl’s hands, fleeing from her as she hurriedly texted Sheena. “There.” she said as she handed the phone back, “Now you have to go.”

Pearl wanted nothing more in that moment than to toss Amethyst into the ocean, however, she forced herself to take a deep breath and regain some semblance of composure.

“Amethyst I swear-”

“Hey hey, look, you gotta get ready for your date. I’ll figure out a way to get you there, you just try and relax. Alright?”

Pearl folded her arms across her chest and let out an indignant sigh, “Whatever it is you do, please try and make it quick.”

“You got it boss.” Amethyst said with a mock salute before rushing out the door.

Pearl let the silence wash over her for a moment before checking her phone. “She made me sound like a total airhead.”

*

Sheena piled the last of her clothes into her closet, slamming the door and hoping they wouldn’t all fall out a moment later. She spun around to face the bathroom mirror, carefully inspecting her outfit. She started from the bottom and worked her way up, scanning her clothes for any unsightly rips and tears. She still had her typical pair of boots on, although she had little choice in that. Her last undamaged pair of black leggings hugged her lower half, doing their best to make her look shapely. For a top, Sheena decided on a mint green v-neck t-shirt, hoping it was cut low enough to get Pearl’s attention. She topped it all off with a black biker jacket, the kind that pretty much everyone except her stopped thinking was cool a good ten or so years ago. Her gaze narrowed a bit as she plucked her lip ring off, dropping it into her pocket. Her anxious eyes skittered around one last time before finally settling.

“Alright,” Sheena sighed with relief, “you look presentable. It’s a start. Now where did I put that make up bag?”

As Sheena turned to look around, she noticed a weight in her jacket pocket. She reached in and produced a silver, scratch-covered flask. Sheena turned it over in her hands, trying to remember how long she had been looking for it.

“So that’s where you went.” she chuckled to herself, “I oughta fill you up for-”

Sheena cut herself off when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. There she stood, talking to herself in the bathroom with a drink in her hand. How depressingly familiar.

“Come on Sheena, you stupid drunk. You don’t need this.”

She forced the flask down, throwing it onto the sink and stomping out of the room. She stopped short just outside the bathroom door, stone-still as a teasing, nagging feeling tugged at the back of her mind. Her stomach tied itself into a knotted mess, her muscles stiff and aching. Sheena threw her arms across her chest, refusing to look towards the bathroom. Her jittering nerves sent sparks through her entire body, causing her to shake. She was a nervous, anxious wreck. She was fighting a battle she felt very little confidence in winning. But more than anything, she was ungodly thirsty. Finally, Sheena half turned back towards the bathroom.

“Well, I guess it’s better to have it and not need it than the other way around, right?”

*

Pearl paced around the house impatiently, ringing her hands together and murmuring to herself. Try as she might to take calming breaths or avert worrisome thoughts from her mind, she found herself stuck in a stressful equilibrium. Stress, guilt, excitement and tension all took up more space in her mind than she cared to admit. This was a horrible idea. She was going to screw this up, she knew she was. Human dates were far from what she was used to. She was used to a connection forged from years of war and hardship. A connection built out of the kind of trust and love that few ever got to experience. A connection she no longer had. Her eyes wandered up to the portrait above the door. With a heavy sigh, Pearl found the words falling out of her mouth.

“Oh Rose, what would you have to say about all this? Would you be giving me a vote of confidence or…” Pearl’s sentence fell into a silent whimper. 

Like it or not, Pearl knew she had to move on. She wasn’t helping herself by asking questions that had no answers. Her body felt unnaturally cold, as if she had just been thrown into an icy lake. Tears stung her eyes as she began to shiver uncontrollably, her breaths becoming quick and sparse. Pearl held on to the wall, desperate to steady herself. She looked up at Rose’s portrait again, but this time all she felt was anger. Who or what she was so angry at, Pearl was unsure. But she knew for a fact that she couldn’t take it any longer. Pearl stepped back, her body still trembling. She gripped at her hair, desperate to calm the swirling emotions that clouded her thoughts. She let out a desperate, primal yell that echoed throughout the silent house. Then, all was still. All was calm. Pearl threw her fists to her sides and let out a frustrated grunt. 

“Alright Pearl,” she said to the open air, “you have a date tonight. You are going to enjoy it. You are going to have fun. Stop acting like a fool, and don’t mess it up.”

With a quick ballet spin, Pearl’s outfit shimmered and changed. She morphed her outfit into an open back halter dress, the same color as her normal top, with the same golden star on her chest. The ruffled skirt ended a little under halfway down her thigh, leaving her legs exposed (aside from her shoes, naturally). She inspected her outfit for a few moments, before the piercing sound of a car horn shattered her concentration. She threw herself out the door and was immediately greeted by the sight of Amethyst laying on the hood of the previously abandoned Dondai Supremo. Peridot was standing next to it, an annoyed expression plastered on her face.

“Dang, Pearl’s showin’ some leg!” Amethyst whooped.

Pearl rushed down onto the sand, completely at a loss for words, “How did you...I don’t...how?”

Amethyst jammed a thumb towards Peridot, “I had this one float the car over to a gas station. Once we filled it up, it ran just fine.”

“How lucky we are that no humans vandalized it!” Peridot added, sporting a fake looking grin.

“Yeah, ‘cuz it would’ve taken way too much money to fix it.” Amethyst said as she shot a glare towards Peridot, “That reminds me,” Amethyst pulled a small roll of bills out of her gem and tossed it to Pearl, “take this. Dates cost money, remember?”

Pearl glanced down at the money curiously, “Why are you doing all this for me?”

Amethyst hopped down onto the sand, “Because Sheena’s cool and I want you to keep her that’s why.” Amethyst answered with a sneaky smile. “Now get out of here, she’s waiting for ya.”

A smile crept onto Pearl’s face as a warm feeling welled up inside her, “Thank you Amethyst.” she turned her attention to Peridot, “And thank you too.”

“Enjoy your courting ritual, I suppose.” Peridot said dismissively.

Pearl’s hand grazed the car door. She took a slow, deep breath. This was all really happening. She actually had a date, with Sheena, without a single monster appearing or mission popping up out of nowhere. She glanced towards Amethyst again, who gave her a wide smile and a thumbs up in response. Although her unease still lingered, Pearl found the resolve to push it aside. A torrent of excitement and a took its place, forming butterflies in her stomach. Pearl’s mind retraced all the events leading up to this. Fleeing from the police on the way to the concert, getting to meet with Sheena for the first time, their previous attempts at dates, and of course, asking Sheena on this excursion after crash landing into her.. It was all so different and exciting. She never thought she would feel anything like this again and it felt wonderful, if a bit stressful. Her mouth stretched into a goofy grin as her morale returned to her. Rose would’ve been proud to see her now, Pearl knew it. Pearl eagerly hopped into the driver’s seat and drove off as Amethyst waved her good-bye.

“You could’ve at least let me take credit for replacing the engine. And the radio.” Peridot said flatly.

“Aw c’mon, we don’t wanna make Pearl feel bad.” Amethyst insisted. “And could you do me a favor and learn how to lie without looking like you just got caught with one hand in the cookie jar?!”

Peridot simply rolled her eyes before asking, “So why are you _really_ going to all this trouble?”

“Is it really so hard to believe I wanna help Pearl out? I help you out when you’re sad.” Amethyst said matter-of-factly.

“Hmm, I suppose that’s true. Regardless, this still seems like a lot of work, especially for your standards. There isn’t even a guarantee this ‘date’ or whatever you call it will go in her favor.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Amethyst laughed, “Sure Pearl’s a little rusty...okay, a _lot_ rusty, but...um.” Amethyst’s words trailed off into silence.

“This is going to be a disaster for everyone involved, isn’t it?” Peridot asked.

“Possibly.”


	11. Stress Eating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheesy fluff in coming!

Sheena nervously stood outside her apartment, fiddling with her phone as as annoying thoughts pestered her mind. Pearl was still coming right? She’d let her know if something happened, right? Maybe another monster showed up. Sheena forced herself to check the time, swearing at herself when she noticed Pearl wasn’t even late yet. 

“What the hell is my damage?” Sheena asked herself, “This is gonna be fun, just don’t say anything weird….again.”

Sheena reached into her pocket and took a quick swig out of her flask. Of course the alcohol didn’t take any actual affect that quickly, but regardless, Sheena’s body warmed up the instant the smokey liquid filled her mouth. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she tucked the flask away. That’s when Pearl pulled in. Sheena settled herself into the passenger seat as quick as she could.

“Hey you,” Sheena said, trying her best to sound confident, “you’re looking good.”

“As are you.” Pearl replied, giving Sheena what she choose to interpret as serious elevator eyes. “I hope you’re hungry.”

Sheena laughed as she patted her stomach, “I’m always hungry.”

Sheena watched the scenery crawl away as Pearl started towards their destination. Sheena nervously drummed her fingers against her leg, searching her brain for something to say or do. Sheena caught sight of herself in the side mirror, forcing a nervous chuckle. A combination of shaky nerves and summer humidity made her feel like she was about to melt into a pastel pink puddle. Suddenly, she remembered something.

“Hold up a sec,” Sheena said, “we’re going on a food date? I thought you didn’t like eating? I told you before we can do other stuff together.”

Sheena noticed Pearl’s eyes open just a bit wider, as if she had seen something horrific, “I’m uh, willing to make an exception for you.” Pearl said, albeit hesitantly. “Besides, you just said you were hungry.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that I guess.” Sheena chuckled. 

The rest of the ride was mostly quiet, although not from lack of trying. They finally pulled into a small parking lot, a wooden building sitting at the very back of it. The pair stepped out, taking in the fresh air for a moment. Sheena’s eyes immediately fell onto Pearl, taking in the sight of her outfit. Her eyes traveled up Pearl’s legs, hanging on her miniskirt. 

“Hello nurse.” Sheena whispered to herself.

“What was that?” Pearl asked.

“I-I was just uh...just saying I wish I knew there was a pizza place this close to my place this whole time.” Sheena laughed, her face flushing.

Sheena and Pearl made their way inside, the scent of fresh pizza enveloping them the instant the door opened. Their footsteps echoed against the shiny hardwood floor, the only audible sound in the mostly empty restaurant. A perky blonde woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere to greet them.

“Table for two?” she asked, “Follow me right this way.”

The woman led them to a table, far away from the scarce few customers already there. She handed each a menu before pulling out a pad and paper, “Can I get you two started with some drinks?”

“I’ll just have water please.” Pearl said, her words tumbling out awkwardly.

“Root beer for me please.” said Sheena.

“Alrighty,” the waitress said as she scribbled the orders down, “I’ll be right back.”

Pearl sat stiff as a board as she watched Sheena eye the menu. 

“So, what kind of pizza were you thinkin’?” Sheena asked.

“Uhh…” Pearl’s mind was blank. She had no idea what most of these toppings were, let alone what they tasted like or what kind of effect they’d have on her. If they were anything like the apple, it wasn’t going to be pleasant. “You pick,” she said finally, “I’m too uh...indecisive.”

Sheena scratched her chin in thought, “How about just pepperoni?”

“Sounds good to me.” Pearl said, trying her best to not sound like she was screaming internally.

The waitress returned with their drinks, gently placing them on the table before whipping her pen and paper back out, “Have you decided what you’d like to order?”

“One large pepperoni pizza please.” Pearl said quickly, looking at Sheena for confirmation, “R-right?”

“Yeah babe, that’s right.” Sheena laughed.

The waitress took scooped up the menus, “I’ll get that out to you two as soon as I can.” she said happily before disappearing into the kitchen.

The awkward silence fell over them again, the low rumbling of the other patrons dimly filling the air. Both pairs of eyes slowly shifted around the dining area, their mouths forming small, fragmented sentences every few minutes. Pearl could feel herself shaking ever so slightly, her mouth uncomfortably dry and her hands feeling clammy. She quickly grabbed her glass and dumped some of it into her mouth, nearly spilling it all over herself in the process.

“Are you alright? You look like you’re gonna be sick.” Sheena said.

Pearl let out a heavy sigh, looking up at Sheena with shame in her eyes, “Honestly, I’m feeling a bit nervous.” she admitted sheepishly.

“Aw c’mon, there’s nothin’ to be nervous about.” Sheena chuckled, “What do you think, I’m gonna drag you into the woods and kill you or something?”

Pearl stared up at her blankly, her only response coming in the form of a quiet “Um…”

“That was uh, supposed to be a joke. Heh..ha..” Sheena said, suddenly finding herself in a nervous sweat, “Excuse me for one sec, I’ll be right back.”

Sheena quickly ran off to the bathroom, locking the door behind herself the moment she could. She splashed some water in her face, turning her gaze up to the mirror over the sink.

“I’m blowing this worse than a freshman on prom night.” she growled at herself, “Why am I like this?”

Sheena fished around in her pocket, begrudgingly pulling out her flask. She held it up for a moment, watching the light reflect off the scratched silver plating. She screwed the cap open and took a long swig of the spirits that lie within it. She shivered as the alcohol filled her stomach, taking a few breaths to steady herself. She shoved the drink back into her pocket, turning her attention to her reflection once again. She quickly readjusted her hair and straightened her jacket, quietly hoping Pearl didn’t know what alcohol breath smelled like.

“Alright Sheena, you got this. You might look like Fonzie’s butch cousin, but you got this.”

Meanwhile, Pearl sat alone at the table, watching the ice cubes float around in her glass as she tried to calm herself. 

_“Alright Pearl, this is simple,”_ she thought _“just try to think of something to talk about before the food gets here.”_ Pearl thought and thought for what felt like an hour, uneasily shifting around in her seat. There wasn’t exactly a ton of common ground for her to get started on, aside from what had happened on their previous dates. Of course, a repeat of those events was exactly what Pearl was trying to avoid, so she was at a bit of a loss.

Sheena made her way out of the bathroom, slipping back into the booth across from Pearl.

“Is everything alright?” Pearl asked once Sheena sat back down.

“Yeah, I just…” Sheena paused for a moment before saying, “I just wanted to tell you that I’m nervous too, and I’m sorry if I’m making you feel uncomfortable. I’m not exactly great at...well, life.” she chuckled.

“It’s not your fault,” Pearl breathed, “It’s just been a long time since I’ve done anything like this, I’m a bit out of practice I suppose. My last relationship wasn’t exactly normal.”

Sheena reached out and took Pearl’s hand, intertwining her fingers with her own, “I’m not exactly normal myself.” Sheena replied with a wink.

Pearl couldn’t help but laugh, her face burning a slight powdery blue as she tightened her grip on Sheena’s hand, “That’s good, you fit in with the rest of us.”

“Happy to hear it.” Sheena said, her mouth curling into a warm smile. Before she could follow up with another thought, her rumbling stomach made its unhappiness known, sounding as if it would shake the table if Sheena were any closer.

“Are you alright?” Pearl asked, only half sure what a growling stomach meant.

“Yeah I’m just _really_ hungry.” Sheena laughed.

“How long does making a pizza usually take?” 

“A while.” Sheena sighed, her empty stomach angrily yelling at her again, “You’re lucky you don’t need to eat, it’s actually kind of a pain.”

“You’re telling me.” Pearl thought, “With any luck the food will be here soon.”

“I don’t know if I can make it that long.” Sheena said, dramatically laying her head down on the table, “I see a bright light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not long for this world.” she said, barely containing her goofy giggles.

“You’re just as bad as Steven.” Pearl chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“I can feel my life draining away,” Sheena said in faux dramatics, “promise me you’ll make sure my tombstone says something funny.”

Pearl had finally broken down into unrestrained laughter, shaking Sheena’s arm and forcing her to sit back upright, “Will you knock it off!” she said, futility trying to sound stern whilst laughing, “I’m not going to let a gem monster kill you, and I’m not going to let a lack of pizza kill you.”

Sheena’s eyes suddenly lit up like a pair of brilliant stars, “Can I be honest with you?”

“Of course.” Pearl said, having an idea of where this was going.

“Watching you kill that alien monster at the coffee shop was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Firstly, I did not _kill_ it, I merely bubbled it. And secondly, my job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“It’s probably more fun than my job.” Sheena wagered.

“It’s not about having fun, it’s about keeping humanity safe.” Pearl said matter-of-factly, “Just like how your job is about...um.” Pearl paused for a moment before saying, “I just realized I have no idea what you do for a living.”

“I’m a mechanic,” Sheena said, “I can do anything from oil changes to frame straightenings. I even built the motorcycle you always see me riding around on.” Sheena explained, beaming with pride.

Pearl opened her mouth to speak, seemingly looking excited, but was interrupted by the returning waitress. She placed the large pizza between the pair, the scent of hot cheese enveloping the table. 

“Careful, it’s hot!” the waitress said, “If you need me for anything else, just flag me over.” she said before returning to the back.

“Aw sweet.” Sheena said, excitedly grabbing a slice and taking a large bite.

Pearl stared down at the food, her heart sinking into her stomach. She apprehensively reached down, taking a slice and raising it to her face. The smell assaulted her nose, nearly making her gag. Pearl forced herself to bite into it, ripping a piece of it into her mouth. She shivered as she she slowly chewed it, every muscle in her body tightening as she finally sent it down her throat. Pearl let out a small sigh of relief, glaring at the rest of the slice in her hand with disdain. She did have to admit however, even if actually eating it made her skin crawl, it did taste rather nice.

“Are you alright?” Sheena asked.

“Yes yes I’m fine,” Pearl lied, “please, continue with what you were saying.” she said, pushing through another bite.

“Well,” Sheena began, finishing her slice and grabbing another, “I was just saying that your job is a lot cooler than mine. Don’t get me wrong, I like what I do, but I’m not exactly a monster hunter.”

“I know from the outside looking in it probably looks exciting, but there are times were I’d much rather be in your position.” Pearl admitted, “At least machinery comes with instructions.”

“Instructions are for pansies.” Sheena joked, washing down her pizza with a swig of her soda.

“My point is, you should be thankful for your job and appreciate it. I know I enjoy a bit of engineering from time to time.”

“Really?” Sheena inquired, sounding just a little bit skeptic, “Work on anything recently?”

Pearl paused for a moment as she mulled the question over, “I believe the last project I worked on was during the giant robot contest I had with Peridot.”

“The giant what contest?” Sheena asked, looking simultaneously frightened and excited.

“Oh it was a silly little idea Steven had when Peridot first joined up with us,” Pearl explained, “we built these robots and competed to see whose was better.”

“Did you win?” Sheena said, eyes glittering like stars.

“....In spirit.” Pearl said quietly, “In my defense all I really had to work with were piles of random junk. If I had actual high quality materials I could’ve-”

“Wait wait back up,” Sheena cut in, “you built a functional robot out of trash? That’s freakin’ amazing!”

“You really think so?” Pearl giggled.

“Of course I do! You need to tell me exactly how you did it, every part, every piece, everything.”

The two spent a long stretch of time talking about their various feats of engineering, the unexpected common ground prompting heaps of conversation. It eventually spiraled off into other various topics, ranging from fairly mundane to truly fantastical. After a bit of prodding, Sheena even convinced Pearl to divulge into telling her stories about some of her past missions. Sheena listened to every word with silent intrigue, only speaking up to ask questions or make an awestruck comment. Pearl meanwhile, hammed it up for her one woman audience, telling her tales with grandeur and excitement. She simply couldn’t help herself, Sheena just looked so enthralled in what she was saying that the words just fell out of her mouth uncontrollably. Before they knew it, their pizza was gone and their glasses were empty. Pearl threw some money down as they got up to leave, the conversation continuing on outside. 

“And that’s how we defeated the monster that had taken refuge in the volcano.” Pearl said, wrapping up her most recent story.

“Alright, I’ve got a question.” Sheena said as they hopped into the car, “If you guys can shapeshift, why don’t you just turn into like, a giant and stomp on whatever you’re fighting?”

“It’s not that simple.” Pearl replied as she began to pull away onto the road, “Shapeshifting takes a lot of energy, especially if I wanted to turn into something big enough to simply ‘stomp’ whatever I was fighting. I don’t eat or sleep like Amethyst does, I don’t have a large excess of energy to use on shapeshifting.

“Why not just fuse into Alexandrite then?”

Pearl gave Sheena a confused side eye, “How do you know about Alexandrite?”

“Steven told me about her. You and the other gems like, mash yourselves together to turn into one huge gem right? Wouldn’t that make a lot of fights really easy?”

“Fusion is...complicated.” Pearl said awkwardly, “The other gems and I need to be perfectly in sync in order to do it, which doesn’t happen very often. Fusion usually only comes up in dire situations. Besides,” Pearl said, her mouth curling into a smirk, “if I won every battle via fusion, I wouldn’t have any stories to tell you.”

“Fair enough.” Sheena said, reclining her seat back and patting her stomach happily, “Man that pizza was good.”

“It was alright I suppose.” Pearl said, “What Amethyst finds so enjoyable about eating is still mostly lost on me.”

“Says the one who ate half a large pizza by herself.” Sheena chuckled.

“I did not eat that much...did I?” Pearl said, her stomach feeling a bit queasy.

“Were you not paying attention to what you were putting in your mouth?” Sheena laughed.

“I guess I was just too caught up in our conversation.” Pearl said, “I honestly don’t remember eating much.”

Pearl’s stomach made a series of ungodly noises as the car continued down the dark road. At first the pair made light of it, laughing it off and jokingly promising not to eat so much pizza in the future. However, between the heat and the bumpy road jostling them around, Pearl’s stomach quickly tightened into a rusty iron knot. She finally pulled over and nearly fell out the door, clutching her stomach in agony. Pearl hung on the the side of the car, unable to stand up straight. Sheena followed her out.

“Are you gonna be alright?” Sheena asked.

“Yes of course, I’ll be fine.” Pearl said, failing to sound even close to convincing, “I think I just need some air.”

“I thought you didn’t need to breathe.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy doing it.” Pearl lied, “I’m fine, really. I just...need a moment.”

Sheena looked Pearl over as best she could in the low light, and from what she could see, she was in rough shape. Her arms and legs were trembling, and one of her eyes was twitching profusely. Sheena took a look around, piecing together where they were in relation to town. Then, she had an idea.

Sheena took Pearl’s arm and guided her towards the passenger seat, “Get back in the car, I’ll drive.”

“Sheena, I told you I’m fine.” Pearl winced.

“Just trust me, alright?”

Pearl sat down and threw her seatbelt on, still holding onto her stomach. Sheena hopped behind the wheel, very slowly pulling back out onto the road. Sheena’s heart was pounding all the while, a cold sweat running down her back. How much of her flask had she drank already? A fourth? Half? She didn’t feel terribly buzzed, but what little hold the alcohol did have on her was making her incredibly paranoid. What if she got pulled over? She’d never pass a breathalyzer, and she couldn’t do those roadside sobriety tests even when she was completely sober. She took a quick glance at Pearl, still looking as if she had just taken a handgun round to the abdomen. A sour twinge of guilt soaked into Sheena’s core as she resteaded herself. She breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the gas station come into view. She parked as close to the door as she could, hopping up and running inside.

“Stay right here.” she said as she slammed the door behind her.

Pearl stayed curled in a ball in the passenger’s seat, eyes squeezed shut. Her stomach was fighting a losing battle against the horrid about of pizza she had downed over the course of the night. The inside of her mouth was soaked with the taste of acid and cheese, her tongue and throat burning as if they were on fire.

“Everything was going so well!” she whined to herself, “Why did I do this? Why do humans love doing such _disgusting_ things?!”

Pearl forced herself to sit up, a difficult process to be sure. She turned the air conditioning on full blast, reveling in the icy air. Sheena came back a moment later, handing Pearl a small soda bottle.

“Here, drink this.” Sheena instructed.

Pearl suddied the bottle curiously, “Ginger ale? What is this?”

“It’ll settle your stomach, just drink it.”

Pearl opened the bottle and brought it to her lips uneasily, taking a couple of small sips. “How long until this works?”

“Probably just a few minutes, so try and relax.” Sheena said as she took Pearl’s hand. 

Pearl squeezed Sheena’s hand, taking another swig of her drink. The bubbly liquid slithered down her throat, mercifully washing out the burning sensation. Pearl glanced out the window, and she realized where they were.

“This is the same gas station we stopped at before, when we went to Funland.”

“Yeah, it’s the closest to where we were.” Sheena shrugged, “How you holding up?”

“I don’t think this stuff is working.” Pearl said before taking another sip.

Sheena let out a defeated sigh, “I feel really bad.” she said, “I feel like this is my fault.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you didn’t do anything.” Pearl insisted, “I’m the one who ate too much.”

“You wouldn’t have eaten at all if it weren’t for me.” Sheena said glumly.

Pearl tightened her grip on Sheena’s hand, forcing the latter to look up at her, “Come on now, don’t beat yourself up. It’s my fault, not yours. I’m the one who went overboard.” she chuckled darkly before continuing, “and now look, I’ve gone and ruined the entire date.”

“What? That isn’t true at all.” Sheena insisted, “I just wanna make sure you’re gonna be alright. I had fun, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did, I had a wonderful time.” Pearl smiled, “I was just so nervous I could hardly think straight.” she admitted, blushing slightly.

“Why? Because I made a crappy joke about murdering you?” Sheena chuckled.

“No, no not that. It’s just, it’s been so long since I was in anything resembling a relationship that I was afraid I was going to mess something up. I’m not used to dating humans.”

Sheena let go of Pearl’s hand, leaning over and throwing an arm around to yank her closer. “I told you, we can do whatever. I like spending time with you, and I’d rather we do something you enjoy instead of something that’s gonna hurt you. Next time, let’s do something without food or anything else that grosses you out, alright?”

“Alright.” Pearl said, sucking down the last of her soda.

“And if it makes you feel better, I was nervous too.” Sheena said quietly, hoping Pearl wouldn’t ask her to elaborate.

“But why?”

“ _Aw damn it_ ” Sheena thought. “It uh...it’s been a while since I’ve been on a date either.” she admitted. “Plus I’m just a boring human, and you’re this amazing, pretty, gem warrior that can slay monsters and do all this other incredible stuff that I can’t even comprehend.” Sheena rambled, her face burning crimson.

“Aw Sheena, that’s so sweet.” Pearl said as she nuzzled up against her, “But I like you for who you are, not what you are. I wouldn’t be going on dates with you if I thought you were boring. Do you really think I- _ **BRUUUUUUP.**_ ”

Pearl threw a hand over her mouth as Sheena burst into a fit of laughter, “Oh my stars.” she whispered, another small burp coming out a moment later.

“You feelin’ better now?” Sheena laughed, tears in her eyes.

Pearl’s stomach felt immeasurably lighter, although the pain had not completely subsided. She was able to sit completely straight up without feeling as if her physical form was about to disintegrate, so it was a good start, “Aside from feeling more embarrassed than I ever have been in my entire life? Yes, very much so.” she said in a very droll deadpan way.

Pearl took the wheel again and managed to drive Sheena home without any more complications. Pearl followed Sheena out of the car, walking her over the front entrance of her apartment.

“Home sweet home.” Sheena said as she gazed up at the large building, “Tonight was really fun.”

“Yes, yes it was.” Pearl said, holding back another burp, “Sheena, thank you for being so patient with me, I know it must not be easy.”

Sheena pulled Pearl into a hug, smooshing her face into her chest, “Don’t talk like that, I like spending time with you. How many times do I gotta tell you that?” Sheena laughed.

Pearl wrapped her arms around Sheena’s midsection, pulling her head out from her cleavage with a smile, “At least one more time I suppose.”

Shenna gave Pearl’s forehead a quick peck before letting her go, “I gotta get to bed, but I’ll text you in the morning. You gonna make it home alright?”

“I should be fine.” Pearl reassured her, “Sleep well.”

“G’night.” Sheena said before finally departing.

Pearl stepped back into her car, flopping into the seat as she stared off into space. “You did it Pearl.” she said to the empty air, “You didn’t completely blow it.”

Pearl slowly made her way home, bathing happily in this feeling she thought she had forgotten. She was so happy, that she didn’t even mind the ungodly belching she had to deal with for the rest of the night.

Alright that’s a lie, she minded a little bit.


	12. Pinky and the Brain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Running errands suck.
> 
>  
> 
> Usually.

Pearl paced around the kitchen impatiently. Every once in a while she’d pull her phone from her gem, sigh heavily, and throw it back. This of course had been going on for the better part of the afternoon, causing a bitter feeling of frustration to well up in the back of Pearl’s throat. She yanked the phone out of her gem, forcing herself to turn it on and open her texting app. She tapped her foot, nervously trying to put her thoughts into words. Defeated, Pearl flopped onto the couch, still staring at her phone. Steven and Amethyst threw themselves into the house, each munching on a bag of fry bits.

“Hey P,” Amethyst said happily, “whatcha up to?”

“Oh, nothing.” she sighed.

Amethyst spied the cell phone in Pearl’s hand and smirked, “Textin’ Sheena?”

“I’m trying, not very successfully, but I’m trying.”

“What’s wrong? Are you guys fighting?” Steven frowned.

“No nothing like that,” Pearl said as she flopped down against the counter, “it’s been two weeks since we went on that date and I haven't seen her since. Every time I text her, she’s at work. Every time she texts me, I’m on a mission.”

“Vicious cycle isn’t it?” Amethyst chuckled.

“You’re telling me.” Pearl said, “I’ve been needing to talk to her about something important this entire time, and I haven’t been able to try and ask.”

“Why don’t you just text her and then wait for her to respond later?” Steven suggested.

“It’s the kind of question I’d rather ask in person,” Pearl explained, “and before either of you ask, it’s private.” she said almost a bit too defensively.

“Here,” Amethyst said, jumping onto the couch next to Pearl, “let me help you.”

*

Sheena threw the door to her apartment open, flopping onto her futon with a hearty sigh. Her body ached with the fatigue of a long days work, so much so that she felt as if she could fall asleep right then and there. Sheena turned over onto her back and took her phone out of her pocket.

“Thank christ that’s over,” she said aloud to herself, “now I finally get a few days off.”

Sheena turned her phone on, slightly surprised to find three notifications staring her in the face. 

“Let’s see here,” she whispered, “direct deposit notification, a text from Pearl and..the cable company?”

Sheena scanned the corporate text quickly, a wide grin sneaking onto her face as she did so.

“Woohoo!” she cheered, “I’m gettin my cartoons back! All I gotta do is rent a truck and-”

Sheena cut herself off when she opened Pearl’s text. 

_**Pearl: Please text me when you get home. :)** _

She re-read the fragmented conversations and broken sentences they had traded over the past few days. She felt bad that she wasn’t able to make a lot of time for her, but she had been absolutely swamped with work lately. Sheena quickly shot Pearl a text.

_**Sheena: Just got home. You home?** _

_**Pearl: I’m here, just got back from a mission not too long ago.** _

_**Sheena: How’d that go?** _

_**Pearl: Well Amethyst nearly got herself eaten and we caused a great deal of property damage. So fairly average.** _

Sheena couldn’t help but laugh at the blunt honesty. Her eyes fell down onto her phone again upon hearing it buzz.

_**Pearl: Are you free tomorrow? I was hoping we could meet up. :)** _

_**Sheena: Tomorrow? Idk...I have an important errand I gotta run and it’s gonna take like all day, so I wanna just get it over with.** _

Back at the house, Pearl’s mouth dropped into a frown. Amethyst peaked over at her phone, rolling her eyes at Pearl’s crestfallen expression.

“Just ask her over text.” Amethyst insisted.

“It’s a deeply personal question Amethyst, I can’t just text it to her.”

“Why not just call her?” Steven suggested. “It’s not exactly in person, but it’s closer than texting.”

Pearl looked down at her phone, a bit dumbfounded that she didn’t think of that herself, “Good idea.”

Pearl quickly dialed the number. Sheena picked up almost immediately.

“Uh, hello?” Sheena said, sounding a bit confused.

“Sheena I uh, I needed to ask you something important.” Pearl said nervously.

“Alright, go ahead.”

Pearl could barely hear herself over the sound of her heart pounding against her chest. Her free hand drummed against her leg, her words caught in her windpipe. She could see Amethyst and Steven giving her a thumbs up out of the corner of her eye. She grinded her teeth as her vision fell onto Rose’s portrait, a pit forming in her stomach.

“I uh...well. I was wondering..what er..” Pearl’s anxiety quickly forced her to chicken out, “What sort of errands are you doing tomorrow?”

“Well,” Sheena began as Amethyst face-palmed, “I gotta grab a rental truck, bring it over to Rosemary where my storage unit is, grab all my crap, come home, then unpack it all. So you know, just a whole big barrel of fun.”

“Who is Rosemary?” Pearl said, unable to hold back a twinge of jealousy from her voice.

“Rosemary isn’t a _who_ silly, it’s a _where_.” Sheena chuckled, “It’s this tiny little town that’s like, an hour and a half away. I lived near there before I moved here.”

“Oh I see.” Pearl said, “So you’re going to be busy most of the day.”

“Yup.” Sheena sighed, “But I kinda need a TV if I want my cable back, and I’ve got a bunch of stuff in there I wanted to get back anyway.”

Suddenly, Pearl had an idea. Without thinking about it any longer she blurted out, “Do you need help?”

“You’d really want to come with me on an over three hour errand? Are you crazy?” Sheena laughed.

“Despite what Amethyst may claim, no I am not.” Pearl said matter-of-factly, “I just want to lend my support. Besides, I-” Pearl got a bit quiet as her face began to flush, “I want to spend some time with you.”

“Well, it would be nice to have some company at least.” Sheena admitted, “Alright, I’ll swing by early tomorrow morning so we can try and beat the traffic.”

“Sounds like a plan! I’ll see you then.” Pearl said quickly.

“Cool. See ya later.”

Pearl hung up the phone, feeling stiff as a board. “Well that didn’t go as I hoped it would.”

“Way to wuss out P.” Amethyst said.

“Amethyst, hush. I’ll just ask her tomorrow, no big deal.” Pearl retorted, heart still pounding.

“No big deal? You’re acting like you’re going to propose...you’re not going to propose are you? Because that might be rushing it a little.”

“I call being the ring bearer!” Steven yelled excitedly.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Pearl huffed. Pearl’s eyes traveled up to the portrait of Rose that hung above the door, ever looming, “I merely need to ask her something important.”

*  
Pearl sat on the porch, taking in the quiet sounds of the early morning. The chirping of the crickets, the gentle splash of the waves against the shore, and the low rumbling of the scant few cars that passed by in the far off distance. Pearl took many slow, deep breaths, hoping to steady her nerves. She was overreacting, she knew she was, but she couldn’t help it. Sheena pulled up to the house, driving a large moving truck. Pearl took a moment to inspect the vehicle, partially out of curiosity and partially out of nervousness. What caught her eye immediately was the company logo painted on the side of the twenty two foot long cargo area. It depicted a large, pale colored elephant pulling a wooden cart full of suitcases and boxes. _White Elephant Truck Rentals_ was written above it in bold red lettering. After taking one last, giant breath to steady herself, Pearl hopped into the passenger seat.

“Mornin’.” said Sheena, “You ready?”

“I suppose so.” Pearl replied, fastening her seatbelt.

Sheena pulled out onto the open road, leaving the half asleep Beach City behind them. The large vehicle moved surprisingly fast, making the scenery nearly blur by. Pearl’s eyes fell on Sheena. It was strange to think that they hadn’t seen each other for a little over two weeks, back when they were all dressed up for their date. But now here they were, normal clothes, normal errands, normal...everything. Sheena looked tired, like she either woke up incredibly early or didn’t get a lot of sleep. Sitting in the space between the two of them was a large blue backpack that Sheena hadn’t acknowledged, as if she didn’t even notice it was there. Pearl deduced it was time for her to make use of one of her weaker skills, small talk.

“What’s in the backpack?”

“It’s a road kit,” Sheena explained, “it’s got a whole bunch of stuff in it in case we get stuck somewhere or something. Water bottles, towels, blankets, stuff like that.”

“Smart thinking.” Pearl remarked, “Although I’m hoping we won’t have to make use of it.”

“We should be okay,” Sheena yawned, “these trucks are pretty sturdy, and the tank is totally full. Besides, worst comes to worst at least we’d be stranded together.”

Pearl immediately shifted her gaze out the passenger side window to hide her face flushing, “That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you..um..” Pearl began stammering as her face ran hot.

“What’s up?” 

“I was wondering...uh..” Pearl mentally kicked herself as she forced herself to backpedal once more, “What do you have in storage? Besides the television of course.”

“Oh lord, I’m not even completely sure to be honest.” Sheena said, gesturing with her free hand, “It’s mostly stuff from before I moved to where I am now. I was in a hurry so I had to throw most of my stuff in there and forget about it for a while.”

“I see.” Pearl said, eyeing the wing mirror “Is this truck going to be of sufficient size?”

“Pfff yeah that’s not gonna be a problem, I didn’t have that much. The drive is what’s gonna be a pain.”

“Well, like you said,” Pearl smiled, “at least we have each other.”

Sheena reached over with her free hand to take hold of Pearl’s hand, “Yeah, thanks again for coming along with me, you really didn’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to help.” Pearl said, squeezing Sheena’s hand, “Although I wish I could help myself.” she quickly added under her breath.

“What was that last part?” Sheena asked.

“Oh nothing,” Pearl lied, “tickle in my throat.”

*

The car ride dragged on for about another hour. Thankfully, the traffic had been sparse, allowing the pair to plow through the open road nearly unhindered. Pearl’s small talk skills had been steadily improving throughout the ride, although she still couldn’t force out the one question that had been burning in the back of her mind all morning. The words they did exchange however, were from all over the spectrum, a chaotic mess of topics, questions, and stories. It was oddly peaceful, just being able to throw any old words into the air and have them bounce around for awhile. It was as if they had known each other for years. Pearl was recounting a one of her recent missions when disaster struck. The engine began making a loud sputtering sound, followed by several loud bangs. Sheena quickly pulled over as the engine began to die, letting out one last sputtering breath as smoke began to seep out from underneath the hood. The pair hopped out and threw the hood open, a torrent of black smoke erupting from it.

“That sounded expensive.” Sheena coughed.

“What do we do now?” Pearl asked.

Sheena took a moment to scan their surroundings. The road was empty aside from them and their now worthless vehicle. The uneven road seemed to stretch on and on into nothingness for miles. Sheena grabbed a fistful of her own hair, trying to ignore the stress induced headache she could feel coming on. She pulled out her phone, only to immediately grimace at it. No bars, no reception of any kind. 

“We’re screwed.” Sheena said simply, before settling on yelling, “I already didn’t wanna do this crap, and now we’re stuck in the middle of freaking nowhere!”

Pearl held one hand above her eyes, scouting the area, “What’s that over there?”

Sheena turned and caught sight of a large wooden sign sitting a few paces away. The two quickly ran over to it to get a better look.

“Wilson & Son Inn, two miles. Opening soon” Sheena read aloud, “Huh, that sure as hell wasn’t there when I lived in Rosemary.”

“Regardless, they probably have a phone we can use.” Pearl pointed out.

“Alright, but we have another problem,” Sheena said as she half turned back towards the truck, “how are we gonna move this thing two whole miles? It can’t even drive two inches.”

Pearl scratched her chin in thought as she looked over the unusable truck. Her eyes fell on the elephant logo adorning the side of it. An idea struck.

“Get in the driver’s seat,” Pearl commanded, “I’ve got an idea.”

Sheena did as she was told, watching as Pearl waltzed over to the front of the truck. She slammed the hood shut, the smoke having finally cleared. To Sheena’s bewilderment, Pearl then proceed to crawl underneath the truck.

“Pearl,” Sheena called out the window, “what the hell are you do- ** _waaaaaahh!_**

__

__

The truck began to rise off of the ground, a giant blob of light growing from underneath it. Sheena hurriedly strapped herself in, unsure of what else she should or could be doing. The light grew taller and taller, giving Sheena a clear view for miles around. Eventually the light settled, forming the shape of a gigantic, pale white elephant. 

“What do you think?” Pearl asked, waving her new trunk as if it were her hand.

“I think you just turned into an elephant big enough to carry a freakin’ truck on your back, and that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” Sheena said, eyes shining like a pair of brand new stars.

Pearl trotted her way down the street, thankful that no other cars passed by to see the spectacle. Her new form was a bit difficult to maneuver, not helped by the fact she had to make sure the truck stayed squarely in the center of her ginormous back. She could faintly hear Sheena laughing just above her head. Pearl turned her head just slightly so she could look up her, mostly to make sure that she had stayed in the truck. Pearl was relieved to find Sheena still buckled into the driver’s seat, marvelling at the view she had. Pearl chuckled to herself as she returned her view to the open road in front of her, a warm glowing feeling enveloping her. After awhile, they made it to their destination. The inn wasn’t very big, only appearing to house about twelve or so rooms, however whoever was in charge of taking care of the place seemed to be very proud of their work. The parking lot was free of any sort of debre, the grass was perfectly maintained, and the unexpectedly large pool that Pearl spotted just around the corner of the building was full of crystal clear water. Pearl gently grabbed the truck with her trunk and placed it on the ground, in front of the room farthest from the lobby. Pearl quickly reverted to her normal shape, nearly toppling over as she did so. Sheena came barreling out of the truck, scooping Pearl up into a bear hug.

“That was awesome!” she exclaimed, “You’re a life saver!”

“Don’t mention it.” the exhausted and slightly dizzy Pearl mumbled, “Just don’t ask me to shapeshift again for awhile.”

“Aww, but I wanted to see you turn into a monkey.” Sheena teased. “I got reception back a minute or two ago, so we should be able to call for help now.”

Before Pearl could reply, a blood curdling scream sliced through the air. “Jesus Christ, somebody please help me!” a voice called.

Sheena quickly dropped Pearl as the pair ran towards the noise, Pearl barely able to keep up. They followed the screaming to the inn’s lobby, the door of which was half open. Sheena bolted inside first, nearly tipping over an overturned filing cabinet. Pearl came in a moment later, weapon drawn. The room was in shambles, as if there had been a struggle. Papers littered the floor, chairs and other furniture either flung into random places or completely destroyed. The only piece of furniture that wasn’t thrown around was a large wooden desk sitting in the very center of the room, although even that was littered with papers and books. Tucked in the back corner of the room was another door, which was also slightly ajar. Sheena moved to enter, but Pearl held an arm out to stop her.

“Me first.” she insisted.

Pearl opened the door, and as soon as she did a dark blue blur whizzed past her head, landing on the desk in the middle of the room. The cat-sized creature before them sported dark blue skin, six insect like legs, two gaping mouths full of razor sharp teeth, with a large square gem placed between them. The monster snarled and hissed at them, and if it had any sort of discernible face, it would most likely be glaring at them. Pearl aimed her weapon, ready to hurl it at the monster, when it suddenly jumped at her. Pearl brought her weapon down in the defense, but the exhausted gem found herself thrown onto the ground rather easily. The creature snatched up Pearl’s spear and snapped it in half between its two jaws. Pearl quickly pulled a new one from her gem and jumped up to take a fighting stance, only to be tackled back down. Every muscle in Pearl’s body wretched in pain, barely able to support themselves. The monster leaped onto Pearl’s chest, fangs barring down on her. Pearl struggled to retaliate, but all she could muster was a few weak punches, as the monster had knocked her weapon clean out of her hands. Without thinking, Sheena grabbed Pearl’s spear and swung it like a golf club, throwing the miniscule beast into the wall behind it with a thud. 

Within a moment, the monster was back on its feet, this time with its hungry jaws pointing at Sheena. Sheena choked up on the weapon, holding it more like a baseball bat than a spear. Sheena swung it in the monster’s direction, trying her best to keep a distance between them. The monster scuttled from side to side, hissing and growling in rage. Sheena swung the spear over her head, narrowly missing her mark as it hopped to one side. The monster ran at Sheena faster than she could react, taking her feet out from under her. Sheena landed flat on her face with a loud thud, Pearl’s spear hitting the ground and disappearing in an instant. The miniscule monster snapped at Sheena’s legs, although she managed to keep it mostly at bay with some wild, panicked flailing. It attempted to bite into her foot, however its fangs quickly got stuck in her boot. Sheena, in a blind panic, stomped against the wall repeatedly. The monster struggled to free itself, but was unable to so much as move whilst Sheena attacked it. Seeing an opportunity, Pearl drew her weapon and chucked it with the last ounce of her strength, piercing the creature and poofing its physical form into nothingness. Pearl scrambled to bubble the gem, sending it away with a sigh of relief.

“Is it over?” Sheena panted.

“Yes, I think so.” Pearl panted as she struggled to a standing position, “I used up too much energy earlier, I’m so sorry! Are you hurt?”

“I think I’m fine.” Sheena said as she picked herself back up, “What about you?.”

Pearl forced herself perfectly upright, almost immediately tumbling downwards in the process. Sheena managed to grab her and gently pull her back up, “The monster barely hit me,” Pearl wheezed, “but carrying the truck took a lot out of me.”

“Come on, let’s get the hell out of here before something else can go wrong.” Sheena said.

“No, no.” Pearl said as she pulled herself up once more, slowly this time, “We need to make sure whoever was yelling for help is safe.”

The pair made their way into the other room, which they quickly discovered was a broom closet. The closet was in a similar state to the main office, with most of the contents either broken or skewn about the floor. Hidden behind a barrier of cleaning supplies was an incredibly frightened young man, cowering with his hands over his eyes. 

“Uh, you alright?” Sheena asked slowly.

“Please don’t hurt me!” the young man cried out, “I’m too young to die!”

“The monster is gone, you’re safe now.” Pearl assured him.

The boy nervously removed his hands, peeking up at Pearl and Sheena, “Are you sure?”

“One hundred percent.” Pearl said, reaching out to help him up, “May I ask for your name?”

The boy took her hand and hauled himself up, still trembling. He had a skinny build and short brown hair. His arms and legs were both decorated with scratches and bruises, another large bruise resting on his cheek. 

“My name is David, David Wilson.” he answered, “W-who are you guys? What the hell was that thing?”

“It’s kind of complicated,” Pearl began, “we were hoping-”

“Wait a sec,” David interrupted excitedly, “I know who you guys are! You’re those aliens from Beach City, right? The ones that are supposed to save people from monsters?”

“Well you’re half right,” Sheena laughed, “I’m basically the useless human tag-along.”

“Well either way, you guys just saved my life. If there’s anything I can do for you, please tell me.”

“We actually stopped here because our truck broke down,” Pearl explained, “you wouldn’t happen to know a place we could get it fixed do you?”

“The nearest mechanic shop is like, an hour away by car I’m afraid.” David said, “And I’m not sure how long it would take a tow truck to get here.”

Pearl and Sheena exchanged a defeated glance, “Great,” Sheena said, “now what?”

“You guys could stay here tonight, free of charge.” David said, producing a key from his pocket, “Technically we’re not even open yet, so you guys have the place to yourselves.”

“Sounds good to me.” Sheena said, grabbing the room key and tossing it to Pearl, “Go take a load off, I’m gonna help David here clean the place up.”

“Are you sure? I could help.”

“You can barely stand.” Sheena said sternly, “Go relax for awhile, you might wanna call Steven and tell him what’s goin’ on.”

“Good idea.” Pearl said, hobbling her way towards their room.

Pearl managed to trudge to the room with only mild difficulty, her entire being more tired that she had been in an incredibly long time. Thankfully they had the room she had parked the truck in front of, so she wouldn’t need to move it once again. Pearl unlocked the door and swung it open slowly, nearly falling into it. It was bigger than she expected it to be, and she was relieved to see it was amazingly clean and tidy. The king size bed was perfectly made, the floor was immaculate, and everything else looked like it had been maintained religiously. Next to the door was a large kitchen sink, with a microwave mounted to the wall just above it. Pearl flopped onto the large bed, a wave of relief washing over her. A large, old fashioned looking television sat a few feet in front of the bed. Pearl chuckled weakly, the entire reason they were here right now was to get a tv. Pearl found herself scanning the room once more, only now taking note of the nightstand to her left (which sported a miniature fridge on top of it), and a door on the wall to her left, which she presumed to be a bathroom.

Pearl pull her phone from her gem, her eyes unable to stand the light it produced. It slipped from her hand and fell onto her face before she could even begin a text message, eliciting a frustrated grunt from Pearl. She slipped it back in to her gem, too tired to bother with it for the time being. Darkness swirled in the corners of her eyes, eventually overtaking it as she slipped into an exhausted sleep.

Pearl was suddenly jolted awake by a chorus of metallic banging and swearing coming from outside. She jumped up, still a bit uneven, but much more energetic than before. She flung the door open, the hot air outside nearly knocking her back down. How long was she asleep? Sheena was working under the truck’s hood, a small tool box sitting at her feet. Pearl walked over, catching Sheena’s attention.

“Hey,” she called, “how you feelin’?”

“Much better.” Pearl said, taking a took at Sheena’s handiwork, “Where did you get the tools?”

“David had ‘em lying around.” Sheena explained, “He’s a good kid, and I ain’t just sayin’ that because he shared his stash with me.”

“His stash?”

Sheena motioned towards the toolbox. Sitting in it was a plastic bag full of microwavable food and other assorted junk food. Next to it was a six pack of beer, a couple of which were already missing. Pearl rubbed her throat, a combination of stress and heat driving her thirst to unbearable levels.

“Do you mind if I have one of these?”

“Sure go ahead.” Sheena said, not looking up from the engine.

Pearl grabbed a bottle and cracked it open, taking a large swig. She wretched the instant her taste buds registered the drink however. “What an odd soda flavor.” she said to herself.

“Apparently the poor kid has been living off this stuff for a while now.” Sheena said, “He’s the one who’s been taking care of this place.”

“By himself?” Pearl said, taking another sip of her drink, “That’s quite impressive.”

“He told me his parents are opening up the place, so he came early to straighten everything up. Can you believe that? Imagine sending a sixteen your old kid out to god knows where by themselves!” Sheena said, her voice steadily growing more and more angry.

Pearl placed an arm on Sheena’s tense shoulder, “I’m sure they wouldn’t have sent him out here if they knew it would be dangerous.”

“That’s not the point! People should be worried about their kids, not letting them do whatever the hell because they can’t be bothered to care!” Sheena took another look at Pearl, who was looking almost frightened. Sheena coughed and changed the subject, “Anyway, I called up the company I got the truck from, and they’re gonna reimburse me for the ‘mechanic bill’ once I get the truck fixed.”

“I thought the nearest mechanic was too far away?”

“I’m a mechanic.” Sheena grinned evilly, “And I ain’t cheap neither.”

“Sheena that isn’t what they meant. You shouldn’t lie.”

“Yeah well, they should give me a truck that works.” Sheena spat. “I just wanna get the hell out of here.” she grumbled into the engine

Pearl frowned at the back of Sheena’s head, “Any idea what’s wrong with it?”

“I think its the carburetor,” Sheena said, scratching her head with a wrench, “But I’m not exactly used to working with this kind of engine.”

Pearl leaned into the engine, scanning it thoroughly, “The carburetor is definitely broken, although I don’t think that’s what was making all that smoke.” Pearl stated, “See that there?” she pointed, “It looks to me that the fuel pressure regulator hasn’t been installed correctly.”

Sheena leaned in closer, squinting, “Oh yeah you’re right. They must’ve just replaced it and messed it up. Now that you mention it, I oughta check the fuel injectors while I’m at it.”

“Did you check the air filters?” Pearl asked, downing the last of her drink.

“They’re clean.” Sheena stated confidently, “Hand me the-” Before she could even finish what she was saying, Pearl placed a multimeter from the toolbox into Sheena’s hand, “Oh, thanks.”

“No problem. When you were cleaning that office did you happen to see any scrap metal? Maybe some unimportant office supplies?”

“Uhh there was a busted old printer and and a couple old telephones. Why?”

“Well we don’t exactly have a carburetor to replace the one we have, I’m going to have to throw something together for now.” Pearl rubbed the back of her head in thought, “Hopefully I can get my hands on some slightly sturdier material.”

“You’re going to make carburetor out of a printer and a telephone.” Sheena said hollowly. 

“I’ve made more out of less.” Pearl said, spinning on her heel to head to the main office. “I’ll get us out of here in no time.”

“Hey wait a sec.” Sheena said as she grabbed Pearl’s hand. Pearl turned around, flinching in surprise as Sheena kissed her cheek, “Good luck.” she smirked.

Pearl’s face lit up immediately, both figuratively and literally, “Yes well I uh...I’ll try my best.” she stammered.

*

“Alright Pearl, start it up!” Sheena called.

Pearl twisted the key, relieved to hear the engine start up.

“Give ‘er some gas!” Sheena called once more.

“Got it!” Pearl replied, revving the engine.

Sheena smiled contently as the engine’s roar filled the air around them, “Music to my ears.” she sighed happily, slamming the hood shut.

Pearl turned off the engine and hopped out of the driver’s seat. The humid air was so thick and heavy it was almost hard to move, not helped by the fact that the pair had spent the better part of a few hours working in or around a gigantic engine. The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky a brilliant medley of orange, red and yellow. Pearl and Sheena stood in silence for a few minutes, the empty air instead occupied by the sounds of crickets and cicadas. Pearl was cleaning up the leftovers of their repair job when the silence was broken.

“God damn I’m sweating like a sinner in church.” Sheena finally declared, wiping sweat from her brow, “I gotta cool down.”

Sheena scanned the area, a smirk coming over her face. She grabbed her bag from inside the truck and motioned towards Pearl, “Follow me.” she said.

The two ran over to the pool they saw on the drive in. A set of lights on the inside of it illuminated the water, making it stand out against the darkening surroundings. The smell of chlorine wafted through the air around them.

“C’mon, let’s jump in!” Sheena said excitedly, pulling some towels out from her backpack and setting them aside.

“Does that travel kit of yours come with a bathing suit?” Pearl questioned.

“Nah, but I mean, I don’t _need_ a swimsuit.” Sheena said, grinning mischievously.

“Sheena!” Pearl blushed, “You’re not suggesting-”

“Aw loosen up!” Sheena ribbed, “You heard the kid up front, we’re the only ones here, so it’s not like anyone would see us.”

“Irregardless, I don’t think this is a good idea.” Pearl fretted.

“Well you can head back to the room if you want, but I need this.” Sheena insisted, pulling off her shirt.

Pearl immediately turned around, burying her face into her hands whilst her face began to burn up. It was only when she heard a loud splash behind her that she dared to look up again. Sheena emerged from under the water, keeping everything from the neck down submerged for Pearl’s sake.

“Oh my god that’s so much better.” Sheena relished. “Hop in Pearl, the water’s amazing!”

Pearl’s eyes darted between Sheena’s face and the serene, refreshing looking water, “Well...it is rather hot out here. Just let me make myself a swimsuit and-”

“Aw come on, live a little!” Sheena pumped her fist into the air and began chanting; “Skinny dip! Skinny dip!”

“Sheena, I’m not going to-”

“Skinny dip! Skinny dip!” she continued.

Pearl threw her hands over herself as if she were already naked and needing to be covered. For some reason, she had been feeling much looser ever since they began working on the truck, so the idea didn’t entirely turn her off immediately. She looked down at Sheena once more, who was still chanting at her. To her own surprise, she found herself mulling it over. Maybe it was because she was drenched in sweat, or Sheena’s peer pressure, but Pearl couldn’t ignore how refreshing the water looked. Pearl took a nervous look around, biting her bottom lip. She took a deep breath and glared at Sheena.

“Fine. But absolutely no peeking!” Pearl commanded, “Got it?”

“No problem.” Sheena giggled as she covered her eyes.

After taking one final look around, Pearl reluctantly faded her clothes away. She stood there for a moment, paralyzed as the muggy air rubbed against her bare body. She slipped into the water quietly, a sharp shiver shooting through her as the ice cold water engulfed her. Her body immediately relaxed, as if the water itself was seeping into her muscles and cooling her off from the inside out. She forced herself downward so that the water was all the way up to her neck before speaking.

“Alright, you happy now?”

Sheena uncovered her eyes and grinned at the obviously embarrassed Pearl, “See? Isn’t it nice?”

“It is pretty refreshing,” Pearl admitted, “but next time, bring a bathing suit.”

Sheena threw an arm around Pearl’s shoulders, pulling her close with a yawn. “We don’t have to be here long, calm down. I’m ready to hit the sack I’m exhausted.”

“So am I.” said Pearl, leaning against Sheena sleepily.

“I thought you didn’t need to sleep?”

“I don’t **need** to do it, but it is the easiest way to regain a lot of energy at once.” Pearl explained, “Besides, it is nice to be able to turn everything off for a while.”

“I hear that.” Sheena laughed.

Pearl looked up at the darkening sky, the first signs of stars blinking through the inky black shroud, “Sure is beautiful tonight.” she said.

“Yeah,” Sheena sighed happily, “it’s nice that we can finally kick back and enjoy it. Nice job on that carburator by the way. I’m still not sure how you even managed that.”

“Just don’t mention it to the people that own the truck, I’m fairly certain that what I managed to put together isn’t exactly street legal.”

The two of them leaned up against the edge of the pool, basking in the refreshing water. Pearl’s eyes fell on Sheena, who was relaxing with her eyes shut. She looked so peaceful, so serene, especially compared to how frustrated she had looked for most of the day. Sheena obviously didn’t want to be on this errand, but was it the errand itself, or was it her? Was Lapis right about Sheena keeping some sort of secret from her? Pearl shook her head, she was overreacting. She felt small and vulnerable, and being naked certainly wasn’t helping. Pearl took another look at Sheena’s face, remembering all it had told her over the course of the day. The frustration, the anger, the sadness, the happiness. But now she just looked like she was at peace, as if she were a statue meant to make someone feel good by look at her. She wanted her here, Pearl was sure of it. All that was left to do was get some sleep and finish their errand in the morning. Pearl knew she wouldn’t forgive herself for putting this off another day. Gathering up any leftover bravery still stored inside her, Pearl cleared her throat to speak.

“Sheena, there’s something that I’ve wanted to talk to you about all day but I...I haven't been able to spit it out.” Pearl began slowly.

Sheena opened one tired eye and peered down at Pearl with it, “What’s wrong?”

“Well I...you see...how do I say this?” Pearl looked down at her reflection in the water as she searched for the words, “Do you remember how I was sick after eating all that pizza?”

“Yeah, you told me you could barely get off the couch for like a day and a half.” Sheena said.

“Well, whilst I was lying there, I was doing a lot of thinking.” Pearl explained, “Thinking about the dates we’ve gone on and everything that you’ve done for me.”

“...Okay.” Sheena said, now giving Pearl her undivided attention.

“And well, I..was wondering…” Pearl pinched the bridge of her nose, “Honestly, it’s juvenile. I blame all the romantic comedies Steven put on to keep be entertained while I was recovering.”

“Pearl, what are you going on about?” Sheena chuckled.

Pearl forced herself to meet Sheena’s gaze again. The moment their eyes met, Pearl could feel a flame burning in her abdomen. She slipped her fingers in between Sheena’s and took a breath to steady herself.

“What...what are we?”

“....Two lesbians skinny dipping?”

“No I mean...are we together? Are we just dating? Are we weirdly close friends? What are we?” Pearl said, her free hand gesturing wildly, “Amethyst keeps calling you my girlfriend but I’ve never heard you say it so I didn’t want to say it first in case I was overstepping, and then Steven asked me-”

“Woah woah Pearl, calm down.” Sheena laughed. “Is that really what’s been eating you all day?”

“Yes.” Pearl said, her entire body burning with embarrassment, “Like I said, it’s juvenile. I just want to be sure we’re on the same page.”

“I usually don’t worry about labels and stuff like that but, I wouldn’t mind being able to brag about having a badass alien girlfriend.” Sheena said, her mouth curling into a somewhat nervous smile.

“Sheena I’m being serious!” Pearl laughed, lightly nudging Sheena.

Sheena’s face began to glow pink, nearly matching her hair, “Well I mean, I do really like spending time with you. You’re one of the coolest people I’ve ever met, even if you aren't really a person...uh...I’m sorry I’m not good at this.” she laughed nervously. “What I’m trying to say is, I don’t think there’s anything I’d rather be than your girlfriend, as cheesy as it sounds.”

“I feel the same way.” Pearl smiled bashfully, “So we’re official then?”

“Yup.” Sheena said, resting her forehead against Pearl’s. “You’re stuck with me.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Pearl whispered, pulling Sheena into a hug.

The uncomfortable heat that wracked Pearl’s body melted into a happy glow. Relief washed over her, the butterflies in her stomach finally finding a new home. She almost felt stupid for being so fidgety for so long, it was such a simple question to ask. Why had it been so difficult? Her mind flashed back to the mural of Rose above the door, sending a shiver down her spine. Oh yeah, that was why.

“You okay?” Sheena asked.

“Just a bit cold,” Pearl half-lied, “are you ready to go back inside?”

“Oh yeah, totally.”

The pair, now clad in towels, hurriedly returned to their room. Pearl locked the door behind her as Sheena made her way inside. She dug around in the plastic bag David had given her, producing a large cup of ramen from inside.

“God I’m starving.” she said, quickly preparing it and popping it into the microwave, “You’re so lucky that you don’t need food.”

Sheena’s words simply bounced off of Pearl, her eyes flickering back and forth between Sheena and the bed that she was sitting on. 

“I just noticed there’s only one bed.” Pearl said more to herself than to Sheena. “I suppose I’ll sleep on the floor then.”

“You ain’t sleepin’ on the damn floor,” Sheena said, flopping onto the bed, “no way.”

“But there’s only one bed.” Pearl reiterated.

“There ain’t nothing wrong with two girlfriends sharing a bed, is there?” Sheena said with a smile.

Pearl’s face immediately burned a deep blue, her mouth wriggling into a nervous smile, “I suppose not.”

Sheena tossed Pearl the remote as she made her way to the bathroom, “Do me a favor and find something decent on tv while I finish drying off will ya?”

“I’ll try my best, but I was never as invested in television as Steven and Amethyst are.”

Sheena shut the door behind her whilst Pearl turned the television on. After forming her clothing back onto her freshly dried body, of course. The motel had a fairly basic cable package by the looks, so Pearl found herself flicking through a number of news channels and infomercials. Pearl stopped for a moment when she saw something vaguely familiar. It was a cartoon, and a very old looking one. If the grainy animation didn’t give away its age, the fact that you could practically hear every ounce of reverb off the voice actor’s microphones did. Pearl sat at the food of the bed, racking her brain as to where she had seen it before. Pearl vaguely remembered Steven showing this to Peridot quite a long time ago when she had shown interest in tv shows beyond _Camp Pining Hearts_. Sheena came out of the bathroom, sporting an oversized t-shirt and a pair of boxers. She grabbed her ramen and made her way over to the bed.

“What are we watchin’?” she asked between forkfuls of noodles.

“I’m still looking.” Pearl said, reaching for the remote again.

Sheena made a small distressed noise in response, mostly because she was busy swallowing ramen, “Wait wait! I love this one!”

“Really?” Pearl said as Sheena excitedly laid onto the bed, “This old show about the dog solving mysteries?”

“Hell yeah!” Sheena cheered, “This is a classic!”

“If you say so.” Pearl snickered.

Sheena laid back on the bed, transfixed on the decades old cartoon. Pearl tired to keep up with what was going on, but it just seemed so...childish. Sheena however, couldn’t seem to get enough of it.

“Ah man, this reminds me of when I was a kid.” Sheena sighed happily, “Me and my cousins would do stuff like this all the time.”

“Did this time together usually involve fixing cars and gratuitous nudity?” Pearl asked half-sarcastically.

“Cars, yes. Nudity, no.” Sheena said, “Well, unless Gus had his girlfriend over. That woman had no shame whatsoever.”

They watched cartoons well into the night, and even if she wouldn’t admit it, Pearl did find a few of the old shows to be somewhat charming. Sheena seemed to know the scripts of most of them by heart, laughing and cheering uproariously at her favorite jokes. It didn’t matter if they were about cavepeople, spacemen, talking sharks or strange looking mushroom people, Sheena knew them all and loved them with a childlike glee. Pearl was having more fun watching Sheena than she did the shows, especially when something would send her into a laughing fit. Despite how much she loved watching her, Pearl found herself dozing off again, only to be jolted awake when she felt Sheena nudge her back.

“You know you can come up here with me, right?” Sheena said.

“I don’t want to invade your personal space.” Pearl slurred, barely awake.

“Pearl, half the fun of having a girlfriend is invading her personal space.” Sheena said as she took a hold of Pearl’s hand, “Come here.”

Sheena pulled Pearl back towards her, gently guiding her way down. She pulled Pearl close with one hand, turning the tv volume down with the other. Almost reflexively, Pearl wrapped her arms around Sheena’s waist. Sheena pulled the blanket over them, eliciting a happy sounding noise from Pearl. Pearl felt as if she was sinking into Sheena, her soft warmth making her feel even more tired. Sheena brought her other arm around to hold Pearl, holding onto her tight. Pearl propped her head against Sheena, using her breasts as a set of pillows. Pearl allowed herself to go limp when she felt Sheena squeeze her tighter, and despite knowing that she was several times stronger than Sheena was, Pearl felt as if she was in the safest spot in the universe.

Pearl nuzzled against Sheena’s chest, eyes half open, “Goodnight Sheena.”

Sheena gave Pearl a peck on the forehead, right in the middle of her gem, “Goodnight Pearl. Thanks again for coming with me, I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here.”

“Anytime.” Pearl smiled.


End file.
